4.  WOMEN WITH GUNS FIGHT BACK
    by Wendy McElroy 
    Special to TLE      http://www.webleyweb.com/tle/>     Issue 223

Women need to defend themselves, especially single women or those with
husbands overseas. And the media has a responsibility to discuss honestly
the issue of gun ownership. The John Walsh Show on NBC may have dealt a
blow (4/29) to both goals by "ambushing" three women who agreed
to discuss their gun ownership and advocacy on air.

Their story is a fascinating glimpse into the sensationalizing bias that
surrounds the gun issue.

Maria Heil of http://www.2asisters.org> Second Amendment Sisters,
Tiffany Hyatt Theroit of http://www.armedfemalesofamerica.com/>
Armed Females of America and Lisa Marquez had reason to trust John Walsh.
The Show's site http://www.johnwalsh.tv/html/meet.html> describes
him as "a tireless advocate for victims' rights and missing
children." Moreover, Walsh claims to support the Second Amendment.

Why, then, is Maria's commentary about the show entitled
http://www.2asisters.org/liarliar/> "Liar, Liar"? Why does
Tiffany http://www.2asisters.org/liarliar/tiffany.html> accuse the
show's staff of "invading our lives and using the fact that Lisa and I
were victims to set us up." Why has Lisa released
http://www.2asisters.org/liarliar/lisa.html> a public statement to
explain she was "lied to" and declare that she, her friends and
her family are "very disappointed" in Walsh?

Lisa had feared the show would be confrontational, making it too painful to
discuss the domestic violence that prompted her to buy a gun. She tried to
withdraw a few days prior to taping. But, as she explained, a staff member
called "and promised this was a show about empowering women and not a
debate." Tiffany had a similar experience; "We were told it would
not be a debate, just about our own individual stories."

Lisa finally agreed to appear for the same reason as Tiffany, who had armed
herself after being raped by an off-duty police officer. They wanted other
women to know their options in self-protection.

Instead, the show turned into a humiliating circus, which seemed staged to
discredit the pro-gun guests.

Maria explained what happened, "We were seated in order of our
segments, Tiffany, Lisa, myself, and then Sylvia." Sylvia, whom the
show http://www.johnwalsh.tv/cgi-bin/topics/today.cgi?id=173>
described as "a former female gang member who says that she is now
opposed to people owning guns for personal defense," was a surprise to
the women.

(Strangely, the May issue of Marie Claire Magazine features an article on
women and guns in which the same Sylvia is quoted, "When I go back to
Compton, CA, I stay strapped [armed with a concealed gun] 24/7." She
also stated, "I spent three years in prison for attempted
murder..." There is a photo of Sylvia holding a gun, which is illegal
for anyone with her criminal background to possess. As Maria observed,
"I wonder how John Walsh, of America's Most Wanted fame, feels about
showcasing a possible felon.")

Maria continued, "When Tiffany was telling her story, Sylvia started
to say something a couple of times, but stopped herself...Now it was Lisa's
turn. Lisa never got to tell her story because Sylvia constantly
interrupted."

During a commercial break Tiffany complained to a producer about Sylvia's
hostile interruptions. He reportedly told her to get "more
aggressive", perhaps hoping for a "Jerry Springer" type
brawl to erupt.

During Maria's segment, "they introduced a woman from the so-called
'Million' Mom March...During my answers to the MMM'r, Sylvia felt compelled
to interrupt me over and over. She even said that I was a criminal because
I owned a gun!"

In a CNSNews
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=\Nation\archive\200304\NAT
20030430d.html> article, executive producer of the John Walsh Show
Alexandra Jewett denied that the pro-gun women had been set-up. At first,
she claimed that the MMM audience member just happened to be present and
happened to belong to the anti-gun oragnization. However, as CNSNews
reported, "two minutes into the broadcast," the woman had been
"featured on camera, with her name and the caption 'Works with teens
to educate them about gun violence.'" Jewett acknowledged that MMM'r
had been "placed in the audience by the show's staff."

The John Walsh Show should realize that women who pick up guns and learn
how to defend themselves are not easily victimized. Maria, Tiffany, and
Lisa are using the abusive incident to educate people about media bias
regarding gun ownership.

Meanwhile, Maria is busy correcting statements Walsh made on the show. For
example, he claimed "nine kids a day die in gun accidents in the
home." Maria observes that, according to the FBI's Uniform Crime
Reports, the 9-a-day number includes "children" as old as 24 and
more than 50 percent of those young adults commit suicide. When you
additionally factor out "children" who are killed outside the
home while involved in crime, the death rate falls to the lowest in
recorded history. In Maria's opinion, Walsh deliberately overstated the
number for sensationalism.

This is the state of the gun debate in North America. Maria's two daughters
-- aged 10 and 12 -- had to hear their mother called a criminal for legally
owning a gun by a woman who boasts of illegally owning one. A battered
woman and a rape victim were incessantly harangued while Walsh's staff
reportedly did nothing but suggest an escalation of the conflict.

Tiffany commented, "Whether women carry a firearm is their choice, but
there is nothing wrong with having...an informed decision." The media
should facilitate this information flow, not halt it.
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Visit my home page and blog at http://www.zetetics.com/mac> drop by
ifeminists.com http://www.ifeminists.com> For photo (05/02/02)
http://www.zetetics.com/mac/vesuvio.jpg>

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