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Concealed handguns protect women and minorities who can’t always rely on the police for protection.

David French, senior writer at the National Review and a veteran of the Iraq War, explained, “when you [concealed] carry your weapon, you don’t feel intimidated, you feel empowered. In a way that’s tough to explain, the fact that you’re so much less dependent on the state for your personal security and safety makes you feel more ‘free’ than you’ve ever felt before.” [100]

John R. Lott, Jr., PhD, found that, “between 2012, and 2018, the percent of women with permits grew 111% faster for women and the percent of blacks with permits grew 20% faster than for whites. Permits for Asians grew 29% faster than for whites.” [101]

Women who have been victimized as adults were more likely to own a gun, more likely to own more than one gun, and more likely to carry a gun for protection. [102] According to Pew Research, women are slightly more likely to report owning a gun for protection (71% to 65%), but men report owning guns for more activities (hunting, sports shooting, etc) and men report owning more types of guns (shotguns and rifles rather than just a handgun) than women, so women are more likely to own handguns only for protection. [103]

Jim Curcuruto, Director of Research and Market Development at the National Shooting Sports Foundation, said, of the increase in gun sales during the 2020 civil rights movement, “The highest overall firearm sales increase comes from Black men and women, who show a 58.2% increase in purchases during the first six months of 2020 versus the same period last year,” [104] As Bruce Tomlin, a Black gun owner, explained to NPR, “I just feel like in my viewpoint, every Black person in America, especially Black males, needs to have some type of protection with them as often as [they] can, because I think the political climate [is] getting to the point where it’s just going to be a lot of violence coming our way. I just feel safer now having a gun. And I didn’t always feel that way. I’ve never been the world’s biggest fan of guns, but I just don’t feel safe without one… I’d rather go to trial than go to the cemetery” [105]

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