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From: geoff@burl.UUCP (geoff)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: Women using handguns for protection
Message-ID: <710@burl.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 28-May-85 15:17:06 EDT
Article-I.D.: burl.710
Posted: Tue May 28 15:17:06 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 30-May-85 01:01:36 EDT
References: <438@ttidcc.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Technologies, Burlington NC
Lines: 29

>   This is one of the great double-binds thoughtfully provided by our
>   double-standard system and the ever present questions of perception.
> 
>   Chances are, if a woman carried a handgun, and used it in an assault
>   ("Did you try sufficiently hard to resist?") she'll be hauled into
>   court on an illegal weapons charge.  If she killed her attacker, you
>   can bet she'll see a plethora of lawsuits because she deprived some
>   other person of "support" (if the attacker was married) or the court
>   will rule that she was meeting force with an UNequal amount of retalia-
>   tion ("Can you prove he intended to kill you?"  "No, yer honor.  I must
>   admit, I did not wait until he slit my throat with his knife.")
>   If she only maims her attacker, he can sue her for loss of wages (since
>   his attack and her retaliation have rendered him unable to make a
>   living).  And this is always presupposing that the court decides the
>   attack was really, honest to goodness, an attack, rather than her own
>   fevered imagination.

	I don't think this is limited to women.  If I were attacked and did the
same thing, I would run into the same legal problems.  I really don't have
an answer for it -- I don't want to live in a society dominated by
vigilante-ism (how do you spell that?), on the other hand you sure as hell
ought to be able to protect yourself.  I did like the quote I read a few
days ago -- 'I would rather be judged by twelve than carried by six.'
Since you can obviously go to far with it (he looked mean, so I shot him),
I don't see any way around an inquiry any time this sort of thing happens.
Some of the judges' rulings make me wonder what kind of drugs the judges were
on, though.

	geoff sherwood