For decades, firearm manufacturers have capitalized on associating guns with masculinity. The gunmaker Bushmaster recently came under criticism for a macho ad campaign that equates gun ownership with earning one’s “Man Card.”
But a recent Gallop poll proves that it’s not just men who are buying guns. Gun ownership among women is at an all time high–43 percent report having a gun in their home. That’s not far off from the 52 percent of men who claim household gun ownership.
Women own guns for many of the same reasons men do–for hunting, for protection, and for collecting — but they are often treated differently, even within the gun-owning community.
Jessica Gonzalez and author Porochista Khakpour join us now to discuss what it means to be a woman with a gun.