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CS Debate: Should Girls Have More Guns?

(AP Photo/Nancy Palmieri)
Story contributed by Carlin Miller, a producer for 48 Hours Mystery at CBS News.

NEW YORK (CBS) According to a Department of Justice study men kill women more than twice as often as women kill men.
And of those homicides, more than half involve handguns according to an analysis of 2006 FBI statistics published by the Violence Policy Center, a gun-control advocacy group. No other murder method comes close.

In short, it's dangerous out there for women, especially around men with guns.

What's a girl to do? Randy Cohen, of the New York Times, proposes a bold solution to this inequity: arm all the women.

Does Cohen have it right? Is it time for all those Annies out there to get their guns?

Those in favor of gun rights have long argued that law abiding citizens need guns to protect themselves. If the criminals have guns, then shouldn't the rest of us have them too? And if the bad guys know women are armed, the argument goes, they might think twice.

But gun-control proponents argue it's not gun-toting criminals that kill women. It's their loved ones. In 2006, a woman was 12 times more likely to be shot and killed by someone she knew than a stranger, according to the Violence Policy Center report. In that case, will having one more gun in the house reduce the violence?

So who has it right? Should America promote more female gun ownership or push for more male gun control?

Crimesiders tell us what you think?

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