noli

Yes but those statistics are injury in addition to the rape itself. As I showed you in the link to the DOJ website, ALL rape victims sustained injury.

Purple Smartie

Some statistics for rapes in the USA

For those of you who like to worry about the actual numbers.

Alonzo Fyfe

My concern about this is whether the woman having a gun makes the general situation more or less dangerous.

What is more likely? That the weapon will be used to prevent a crime, or that the weapon will be used to aid in committing a crime?

Using the weapon to prevent a crime means that one has the time to get to the weapon, make it useful (by loading it, or turning off the safety, or unlocking a trigger lock), and employ it against the potential criminal.

What percentage of crimes actually give the victim the luxury of that much time?

It is also relevant to note that the amount of time it takes to employ a weapon is inversely proportional to the steps taken to render the weapon safe when not in use. If the only step that needs to be taken to emply a gun is to grab it and release the safety, then this requires a person walking around with a loaded gun with the safety on. Which is far more dangerous -- making far more likely that the gun will become an instrument used either to commit a crime, or in a tragic accident.

In those cases where one does not have time to deploy the weapon, one is in effect making the weapon available to the criminal. (What rapist would have moral qualms against taking the gun?). Once taken, it can be used -- if not on this victim, then on the next. (No seven-day waiting period here.)

There is also concern over the gun being stolen -- either by somebody who is in the process of performing another crime (e.g., snatching a purse, or car-jacking), or deliberately by somebody who wants to use it (e.g., "I would really like to go in and blow my boss's head off right now and I know that Ms. Smith carries a gun. I wonder if I can get it from her.").

noli

Read it again-

22% of injured victims of an unreported attempted rape received medical treatment, 1992-2000

Amen-Moses

From that link:

"According to the National Crime Victimization Survey there were an estimated 248,000 rapes and sexual assaults against victims over the age of 12 in the US in 2001. (US Department of Justice)

According to the National Victim Center, 683,000 women are raped each year. (1992)"

Either both these figures are for the US in which case the rape rate has drastically reduced in the last ten years OR the second figure is for the entire world in which case the US with less than 5% of the population has over 30% of all rapes.

Which is it?

Amen-Moses

Vylo

People desperately need to be educated about gun use in order to use one. Gun liscences should be similar to car liscences, in that you should have to pass a test of your knowledge and competency of gun use and responsibility. Perhaps having a psychological evaluation might not be too bad of an idea either.

Many of the injuries incured against those who carry guns is simply due to the fact they do not know how to wield them.

While I don't have any disdain for non-lethal weapons, I also see no problem with a responsible woman having a gun for self defense. My opinion of them shooting a would be rapist/mugger has already been mentioned in this thread "good riddance to bad rubbish".

Vandrare

in this situation i'm referring not just to rape, but to being beaten and most importantly murdered afterwards. murder doesn't happen that often in date rape situations so here it would seem wrong to kill in response. ofcourse the violent act of rape is completely deplorable and something absolutely terrible for the victim, but i'm just not sure this could warrant killing someone.

Amen-Moses

Yes which means that 78% neither reported the incident NOR got medical treatment. So where did the numbers come from?

Injury stats usually come from hospitals and clinics but if they recieved no treatment then either they didn't go to one or they did and were deemed uninjured.

Another criticism would be how do you define "attempted rape", i.e is a drunken fat bloke who you can easily outrun chasing you saying "I want you babe" an attempted rape? How about the mugger who you escape from before even ascertaining his motives (maybe because with a face full of mace or a groin full of knee he had other things on his mind than sharing that information) an attempted rape?

Amen-Moses

keyser_soze

You fail to see that you are referring to HINDSIGHT. Prior to, or during the commission of the rape, the woman doesn't know the outcome. Hell, often neither does the perp. You are expecting them to be psychic?

Daleth

Yes, I am. I am 31, look like an old Irish Spring advert and live in New York City. And I've just admitted to you that our culture has left me feeling like I'm a bad person because I don't live in fear. And I literally mean I feel shame over not feeling the terror. Which is pretty sick.

No, and I am being sincere about a painful subject here, so please don't belittle what I'm saying. You said I should be ready to empty a gun into a potential assailant at the first sign of trouble. I think that attitude is likely to get women jailed themselves. In the case of an attack by a stranger, I'm not going to get the chance to assess what damage he might do, or possibly even whether he's armed, and I'd use deadly force in a set of complete unknowns like that. In the much more likely scenario of the rapist being an ex or a friend, I'd know enough about what level of violence they tend towards to have a clue what was going on in their minds. All in all, if I believe I can escape without killing someone, I think that's the moral thing to do. And I don't believe that avoiding feeling violated alone is worth taking a life. And again, I feel like I'm not allowed to feel that, even though it's in line with the law. Still, I'd hate to live in the sort of fear that would make someone walk around every day with a knife strapped to her wrist.

Yeah, I know. What I was asking was, does it really happen every day that a woman is murdered because she tries to injure her assailant and this pushes him into a rage that leads to her being murdered. That specific scenario that you said happens every day. It happens every day in movies, but how often does it happen in real life? Sincere question. And what percentage of rapes lead to murder (not which percentage of murders or women were subsequent to rape)?

Again, Mr. Social Worker, a little sensitivity on a painful subject please. No, I do not sit around hoping I won't be one of those women.

And yet they very often do not. I do understand the fear. I do understand the desire to defend one's life. I don't think that makes it moral to kill someone as soon as you think that you might be raped.

Christ, so let's shoot 'em all! I live in New York. My partner has been mugged 3 times and car-jacked once at gunpoint (that in Puerto Rico, actually) and has never been injured. Should he have killed all 4 of those men (or boys) just to make sure?