Alphecca

Women Arming Themselves in TN

At least the smart ones are:

Last year, 9,921 women received permits to carry handguns in Tennessee — a record number. That was almost 500 more than in 2005, and about 80 percent more than in 2004, a year that ended a decline in such permits.

Permits are issued after completion of a handgun safety course, and after background checks and a fingerprint analysis by local, state and federal authorities.

Officials from the Tennessee Department of Safety say it is not clear why women have signed up to carry handguns at such an increased rate the past two years. Before 1996, local sheriffs' offices issued the permits.

But gun experts, such as Barbara Oonk of Nashville, say that women are increasingly exercising their gun ownership rights in light of concerns about crime.

"Why should we not have something to protect ourselves?" said Oonk, the Tennessee representative for the Second Amendment Sisters, a national organization promoting female gun ownership. "Why should we let someone else have their way, when you could protect yourself?

"There is so much crime going on, and it is proven that states that have carry laws see less crime. If everybody is carrying, there would be less crime."