What if Reeva had a gun the night she was murdered?

If you were to type in the words ‘girls with guns’ in any given search engine you’ll undoubtedly be accosted by sites that either advertise women’s gun-themed clothing or sites depicting purposefully, scantily cladded models to appeal to our nations share of wide-eyed porn addicts. I’m pretty sure though that women can get pretty tired of these clichés if not somewhat aggravated. Why does the media always have to depict women with guns in some sort of sexually fuelled fashion, wearing bikinis or little else and grasping an AK-47? How does that appeal to anyone other than your average, garden variety misogynist sitting in front of his mother’s computer? In a word, it doesn’t. It only adds to a pervasive stigma that, when it comes to guns, women are inferior in their use as to their male counterparts.

Which is absolute rubbish, if you think about it. Truth is that, with adequate training and knowledge, anyone, men and women, can be proficient with a gun and, considering the state of affairs regarding violent crime in our country, women gun-owners may be a very good idea. Crime in this country has indeed reached epic proportions and the worst of it seems to be directed at women and children. Probably because most criminals in South Africa, who are inherently cowards, would rather attack what they believe to be an unarmed, defenceless woman than face up to an equally sized adversary. But, what if the tables were turned? What if the little lady targeted by the big, bad criminal pulled out of her purse, not a can of mace but a loaded .45? I guess mr. big bad criminal would have to re-evaluate his priorities, if he’s still alive, that is.

Here, at Girls & Guns, we continually work to dispel the ridiculous notion that women are somehow inferior when it comes to the use of firearms. On the contrary, if you’ve seen what we have seen on how women perform on target ranges, outshooting the men in various instances, you’ll quickly change your way of thinking when it comes to girls and guns. Bottom line, a firearm will always provide more effective protection for a woman than any police issued restraining order and, regarding the calibre size, I’m sure all the ladies will agree with me, the bigger, the better. South African women love shooting guns as much as their male counterparts and, hopefully, that thought will cause any criminal to rethink his schemes. If he doesn’t, he’ll find himself grasping at the end of a very short stick.