GUEST EDITORIAL

Marketing Handguns to Women: Fair Advertising or Exploitation?

By Sarah Brady Chair, Center to Prevent Handgun Violence

"He's followed you for two weeks. He'll rape you in two minutes," screams the headline from a full page ad placed in a Capitol Hill newspaper by the National Rifle Association (NRA). The ad attempts to lead the reader to believe that nobody cares about her safety, so her best option is self-defense. Yet the ad provides no tips on self-defense, except a reminder that the reader has a "choice" to own a firearm. The last paragraph reads, "We're not trying to sell you a gun."

Rape is real; we live in a violent society. Off-duty women police officers are just as vulnerable to rape as other women. As a police officer, what do you do to protect yourself? Is it different from what you counsel civilian women as the best form of self-protection against rape and other crimes? Would you tell your neighbor, your sister, or your mother to carry a handgun if she is afraid to walk alone at night? Would you tell a single mother to keep a loaded gun in the home to ward off intruders? What is the best self-protection for the average American woman?

Pro-gun organizations and the firearm industry would have us believe that the best protection is a handgun. By using fear tactics, these groups exploit a woman's legitimate fears in an effort to convince women to buy guns.

Much has been written about the growing trend of women purchasing handguns for self-protection. What is often overlooked, however, is that this "trend," if in fact it is real, is not spontaneous. As with any product, when sales are down, producers look for a new market. Women have become the latest untapped market for gun manufacturers looking to boost sagging sales and for pro-gun organizations looking for new members.

According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, domestic handgun production peaked in 1982, at 2.6 million, and declined through 1986 to a decade low of 1.4 million. In 1989, the NRA magazine, American Rifleman, acknowledged, "There simply are too many manufacturers for a shrinking or stagnant market – the industry needs to find new markets to survive and prosper." The article reported that while nearly 28% of men were firearm owners and another 29% were interested in guns, less than 30% of women owned or were interested in firearms, suggesting that there is "a huge untapped market open to a manufacturer smart enough to pursue it."

"What is the best self-protection for the average American woman?"

Although women comprise over 50% of the population, until recently they had not been courted by gun manufacturers. In American society, guns have been and still are largely associated with men: men fight at the front lines; most hunters and target shooters are men; and even the majority of police officers are men. Thus, advertisements for firearms traditionally had been placed in "male- oriented" hunting, fishing and shooting magazines.

Marketing to Women

The first manufacturer to aggressively go after women was Smith & Wesson. In 1989, Smith & Wesson unveiled its LadySmith line of handguns, designed specifically for women, including a choice of pearl or baby blue grips. To promote the line, Smith & Wesson began a hardhitting advertising campaign, featuring headlines such as "YOU THOUGHT NO ONE COULD FIT IN YOUR BACK SEAT" and "THINGS THAT GO 'BUMP' IN THE NIGHT AREN'T ALWAYS YOUR IMAGINATION." These ads provided such safety tips as "Look in the back seat of your car before entering." The ads included an 800-number for more information on how to protect yourself but callers were also asked if they would like a brochure on the LadySmith handgun, along with their safety pamphlet.

This year, Smith & Wesson is offering LadySmith customers a tuition rebate on safety classes. A LadySmith purchaser can be reimbursed up to $50 when she enrolls in an NRA Basic Pistol or Personal Protection course. If Smith & Wesson and the NRA are really concerned about safety, why don't they make this offer to first- time purchasers of handguns, male or female?

Last year, the Colt Manufacturing Company placed an ad in the Southern region edition of Ladies Home Journal, showing a mother tucking her little girl into bed, with the headline, "Selfprotection is more than your right . . . it's your responsibility." The ad depicts two handguns, one superimposed over part of the photo. The ad reads ". . . [Y]ou have a responsibility to be there for those who depend on you.... [F]or protecting yourself and your loved one, we recommend a dependable Colt semiautomatic pistol." Clearly, Colt is trying to evoke guilt feelings among women that perhaps they are not doing enough to protect their children unless they take that step to arm themselves— with a gun.

In addition to the marketing of firearms — particularly handguns — to women, a new type of fashion industry has sprung up. Stores with names such as "Bang Bang Boutique" are selling fanny packs and purses for women, which are designed to conceal a handgun. There has even been a fashion show in Florida showing women how to "carry concealed and still look good." A hair bow that doubles as a holster with a Derringer was featured, along with gun-concealing bras. The promoter of this show admitted that the purpose of the runway show and fashion displays was to "attract women into the gun market."

Davis Industries, a manufacturer of Saturday Night Specials, also uses advertising that treats guns as mere fashion accessories. The headline of one ad reads "Precious Possessions . . ." and shows four handguns, along with a pearl necklace, a diamond bracelet, and two one-hundred dollar bills peeking out of a leather purse. The light that reflects starlight off the diamonds does the same for the handguns, perhaps suggesting that handguns and diamonds should both be considered key fashion accessories. Smith & Wesson runs an ad for a .38 revolver, which places the weapon alongside a fur coat, a single rose, and a brass lamp.

NRA Targets Women

At about the same time the gun industry began looking to women as a new market of customers, the gun lobby began its campaign aimed at women in an effort to boost its declining membership. In 1990, the NRA created a Women's Issues and Information (WII) Division, which offers seminars for women who are new firearm owners or are considering the purchase of a firearm.

The NRA also began a new promotion to recruit female members, with ads offering "a better deal for your better half."

Part of the gun lobby's efforts to recruit new female members is directed at making women believe that a gun is a tool of "empowerment."

NRA members can now sign up their spouses for half-price. One might argue that the ad could be directed at women to recruit their husbands, but the ads appear in American Rifleman magazine, not Women & Guns, a magazine for female gun owners.

Part of the gun lobby's efforts to recruit new female members is directed at making women believe that a gun is a tool of "empowerment." As Liz Swasey, director of the NRA's Women's Issues and Information Division, stated in a recent interview with the Arizona Daily, "The same way [women have] decided we're perfectly capable of taking care of our economic well-being . . . now we're deciding that we're also capable of taking care of something that's much more important, which is our personal and physical well being." The message is that women can now be equal to men if they wield a gun.

The gun industry has jumped on this bandwagon as well, with Smith & Wesson publishing an ad with a serious-looking young woman target practicing. The headline reads "What would mom think now?" —reminiscent of the 1980s advertising campaign "You've come a long way, baby," which encouraged women to flaunt their independence by smoking cigarettes.

Tough, "take charge" women such as the movie characters Thelma and Louise, and Sarah Conner of Terminator 2 fame have been featured on the cover of Women & Guns magazine, which is published by the Second Amendment Foundation, an extremist pro-gun organization. This glossy, slick publication, features articles about different types of firearms, female competitive shooters, training, and women in the industry. Many of the ads in this magazine are for bags and holsters made specifically to conceal a handgun, again encouraging the carrying of concealed weapons.

Untold Risks

It is critical that women, as well as men, who are considering the purchase of a gun for self-protection understand the inherent dangers of carrying a gun and keeping a loaded gun in the home – especially if children are present. In 1991 there were only 240 justifiable handgun homicides, compared with 12,090 handgun murders in America. Clearly, not everyone is practicing successful vigilantism.

Law enforcement officers, who are highly trained, are killed with their own guns 14% of the time by a perpetrator overpowering them or grabbing their weapon. If women and men in blue are this vulnerable, what does that say about the likelihood of the average untrained citizen successfully fending off an attacker? Interestingly, an FBI study of 50 felonious killings of law enforcement officers showed that 85% of the officers did not discharge their service weapons before they were killed.

Again, what the gun manufacturers and gun lobby do not acknowledge are the risks and responsibilities of firearm ownership. Risks like the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, which found that a gun in the home is 43 times more likely to be used against the owner or a family member than to shoot an intruder; that most guns in schools are brought from the home; and that every day in this country, a child is accidentally killed with a firearm.

I was pleased to have Kathleen Burke, a past president of IAWP, join in efforts to reduce gun violence by appearing in public service announcements produced by the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence, which I chair. The Center is a non-profit organization working to prevent firearm violence through education, research and legal advocacy. The safety spots warned viewers of the danger of keeping a loaded firearm in the home.

Law enforcement officers, as well as self-defense experts, generally suggest other, safer methods of self-protection, such as improving home security, better lighting around the home, a burglar alarm, a dog, a telephone in the bedroom, or a neighborhood watch program — rather than buying a firearm. Other recommendations include such common sense practices as not parking or walking in poorly lit areas at night if alone. As Chief Neil Behan of Baltimore County, MD, once said, "If guns were the answer to the threat of violent crime, we'd sell them at police headquarters."

Despite the media hype, it is questionable whether gun sales to women are actually up. Smith & Wesson contracted the Gallup Organization to conduct a series of polls to determine gun ownership among women. The gun manufacturer claimed the polls showed that gun ownership among women increased 53% between 1983 and 1986, to 12 million women gun owners. Yet, Smith & Wesson refuses to release the poll results, or even the press releases it originally made available to the media. A University of Chicago survey seriously questions whether more women are buying guns. This survey found that between 1980 and 1989, "there have been no significant changes in the level of gun ownership or handgun ownership for either men or women over the past decade." The media has been relying on those who have the most to gain from the theory that more and more women are arming themselves—firearm manufacturing and pro-gun organizations.

As Chair of the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence, I believe the decision to own a gun should be made only after seriously weighing all the facts, including the alternatives to a handgun which crime prevention officers recommend, and the local laws on use of deadly force and carrying a concealed weapon. If a woman (or a man) makes the decision to own a handgun, she (or he) should take the time to learn the safety measures that will reduce the risk of accidental death or injury.

The recent aggressive promotion of guns to women did not develop out of a concern for women and our safety, but rather as an economic solution to declining firearms sales and membership in pro-gun organizations. And while I can understand the desire to market firearms to women — as well as to men — what I disagree with, and find particular fault with, is the manner in which guns are being marketed to women. Gun manufactures do not place firearm ads with diamonds and fur coats in American Rifleman magazine. The firearm ads directed at men are rational and factual, while the ads towards women are sensational and emotional. The ads for men do not depict children, or remind the reader that crime is up, or that the reader is vulnerable. Marketing firearms based on fear and scare tactic advertising is exploiting women merely to increase sales.

If you believe there are other alternatives which should be considered prior to the purchase of at handgun for self-protection and are willing to be a spokesperson on the issue, please contact Nancy Hinde in the Law Enforcement Relations Department at the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence at 202-289-7319.

On such a critical decision as handgun ownership for self protection, consumers need to make an informed judgement. A responsible industry would not employ the marketing tactics adopted by the gun manufacturers and gun lobby to introduce its products to women.