May 4

Country Courier
S e r v i n g To d d C o u n t y , M N
VOLUME 23; NUMBER 2 - FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2013 CIRCULATION 6,000

Numbers of women involved in hunting and shooting sports on the rise

shooting in self-defense. Both criminal prosecution and civil lawsuits are likely to proceed against the shooter. To make sure we understood the requirements to own a gun in Minnesota and the laws that pertain to shooting a gun, I applied for a permit to purchase a firearm and completed a gun safety training course conducted by a state-certified instructor. In my class, held in Menahga, were five men, one other woman, and me. Only one person in the class was under age 60. All but one person already knew how to shoot a handgun, and everyone easily qualified when we went to a gun range to demonstrate our proficiency. Next, I applied for a permit to carry a firearm. It can take up to 30 days for the permit to be processed and approved, but I received mine in seven days. Information about women and guns from two sheriffs Wadena County Sheriff Mike Carr told us in September that so far in 2013, 181 purchase permit applications had been received and processed by his office. Of these, 29 (16%) were from women. As of September 2013, 177 carry permits were received and processed. Of these, 33 were from women (19%). The sheriff did not have data from previous years, because the reporting system used by the Wadena County Sheriff s Department during those years did not report the gender of permit applicants. Sheriff Carr reported that so far in 2013, there had been only one domestic assault call in the county where the assailant using a weapon was female. In that case, the weapon was a knife. He said it is rare for a woman to use a weapon in an assault, and that most assaults are carried out by males. Todd County Sheriff Pete Mikkelson told us that of 726 active carry permits in Todd County, 154 of the permit holders are women (21%). His office received and approved 87 carry permit applications from Sept. 26, 2012 to Sept. 26, 2013 from women, more than double the 34 permit applications he received in the previous year (Sept. 26, 2011 to Sept. 25, 2012). Sheriff Mikkelson commented, Obviously, there has been a pretty

FREE
And yet, Kelly asserted, A womans decision to arm may bear little relationship to her true, statistical vulnerability. The violent crime rate in the United States has decreased by almost 50 percent since 1993 (p. 112). The U.S. governments Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that Firearm-related homicides dropped from 18,253 homicides in 1993 to 11,101 in 2011, and nonfatal firearm crimes dropped from 1.5 million victimizations in 1993 to 467,300 in 2011. The Pew Research Report cited above found that Compared with 1993, the peak of U.S. gun homicides, the firearm homicide rate was 49% lower in 2010, and there were fewer deaths, even though the nations population grew. But Americans dont seem to be aware of the drop in violence. The Pew Research Report found that only 12% of Americans believe the gun crime rate is lower today than it was in 1993, while 56% think it is higher (Bill Chappell, Rate of U.S. Gun Violence Has Fallen Since 1993, Study Says, National Public Radio, May 7, 2013, retrieved online from NPR blog). Interviews with women gun owners Continued on page 8

dramatic increase. He continued, Sheriffs offices throughout the state have seen an increase in people applying for both carry and purchase permits. The sheriff reported that he could not recall a woman ever being arrested in Todd County for a gun crime. He has been with the Sheriffs Department since 1987. Why woman arm themselves A 2013 posting in the NRAsponsored blog theblaze.com, declared, More and more women of all demographics are arming themselves in America, and there are three often-cited reasons: the need to independently defend oneself, current events, and the fact that it has never been easier to get involved (www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/04/09 <http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/04/09> ). A book, Blown Away American Women and Guns by Caitlin Kelly (Pocket Books, no date, probably published about 2006), provides extensive anecdotal and statistical information about women who own guns and women who dont. Kelly learned in her research that selfdefense and/or personal protection was the most common reason women gave for buying a gun and learning to shoot it.

More than 400 arrested for DWI during first weekend of statewide DWI crackdown

Becca, in her 20s, is a staffer at MDHA. She is the middle child of three girls, all of whom hunt and fish. They were taught by their dad. Becca is pictured with her dog, Shadow. By Rin Porter Today in the U.S., gun owners are mostly male, but that is changing. According to a Gallup Poll published in February 2013, 15% of American women now own guns, up from 12% in 2007. The Gallup Poll indicated that gun ownership is increasing. A survey by the Pew Research Center conducted in February 2013 found that 12% of women own guns. The Pew survey also revealed that gun ownership is higher in the Midwest and South than in the Northeast and West. Across all regions, people living in rural areas are twice as likely as those in urban areas to own a gun (39% vs. 18%) (Why Own a Gun? Protection is Now Top Reason, Pew Research Center, March 12, 2013, p. 17). The Pew study found that gun ownership is decreasing. We wanted to learn about gun ownership among women in Central Minnesota. To find information, we interviewed six women, from five different counties, who ranged in age from their 20s to their 60s. We interviewed two sheriffs, and collected facts from books, online news articles, and a gun safety instructor. Here is what we learned. Background Information Minnesotas firearms laws are stricter than those in most states. In Minnesota, a person must have a permit to purchase or to carry a firearm. To qualify for a permit, a person must be 21 years old, be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, successfully complete training by an instructor certified by the Minnesota Dept of Public Safety, pass a background check conducted by the sheriff of the county where a person lives, and complete the permit application process. If a person with a valid permit shoots another person in Minnesota, there are likely to be serious consequences for the shooter, regardless of the circumstances, even if the shooter thought she was

Less than 1 percent of the 10,664 DWI offenders in Minnesota who have used or are currently using ignition interlock have reoffended since the programs statewide inception in July 2011, according to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Office of Traffic Safety. To date, 3,283 people have graduated from the interlock programmeaning, they used the device for the required period without reoffending. There are currently 7,381 people using ignition interlock in Minnesota. Ignition interlock devices are connected to a vehicles starter. The only way a driver can start the vehicle is by blowing into the device and measuring an alcohol content under 0.02. If the alcohol content is at 0.02 or above, the car will not start and the information will be recorded and later transmitted to the monitoring authority. Interlock devices are proving to be effective tools that are keeping the vast majority of past DWI offenders from repeating their mistakes, says Donna Berger, Office of Traffic Safety director. In turn, this technology is cutting down on impaired driving and creating a safer driving environment for Continued on page 8 the traveling public.