While Democrats pledge to bring gun control legislation back to the floor, the failure of popular Senate gun proposals affirms — even in the wake of Newtown shootings—more Americans want more guns in homes for protection, and perhaps a sign out front declaring the house a gun-filled rather than gun-free zone.
Amid the controversial debate on gun control, Townhall’sKatie Pavlich went out to Arizona for an intensive week-long firearms training course at a state of the art training facility highlighting the importance of being educated in self-defense.
Fox News' cameras went with her.“I decided to come out here to the gun site because I think it's important for people to educate themselves in self-defense should they ever be put in a situation where they need to actually defend their life,” Pavlich explained.
Pavlich’s multi-day firearm training course included the basics of self-defense, the ins and outs of the AR-15 and the defensive pistol, how to save lives and fight her way out of a threat, the necessity of “high capacity” magazines and keys to successful crisis management.
The Arizona Gunsite Academy is the largest privately-owned training facility in the world, which trains a law enforcement personnel, military special operations people and a tremendous amount of civilians. The instructors are all highly experienced, most of them military police.
“Here at the Gunsite, they don't teach you how to shoot, they teach you how to fight. There are people here from all over the country, there are people are here from all over the world and they are all here to learn the basics of how to confront a situation rather than be a victim,” Pavlich said.
“What makes gun site different than other defense or shooting schools, they have simulators here to give you realistic situations of what you might face in your home and out in the real world.” Pavlich said.
Many people are afraid of guns, especially women, but that is one unexpected consequence of the gun control push: more people are buying guns. In fact, many of the new gun owners are women.
“We've had over the last year and a half, two years, about a 700% increase in women. They want to learn about firearms. They want to learn to be safe, they want to learn to be able to resolve conflicts,” Buzz Miller, the owner of Gunsite Academy told Fox.
An unprecedented majority of Americans, a wide 51 to 29 percent margin, say having a gun in the household makes it a safer place to be rather than more dangerous, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
The public split 35 to 51 percent on whether guns make the home safer or more dangerous in 2000 according to Gallup, that’s nearly a complete reversal.
“I' m a mother of five, my husband is a doctor, I’m a nurse. Until about four years ago i had never shot a gun. I believe in the second amendment, but I was afraid of the gun,” Christine Taylor, a Gunsite participant told Fox, “I think if you have guns in your house, the safety is knowing how to use them.”
Pavlich demonstrated during her training that the controversial AR15, an assault rifle, contrary to popular belief, is actually very useful for self defense.
“You do not need assault weapons to defend yourself or your property,” Sen. Harry Reid, who vows to bring gun control proposal legislation back on the Senate floor warned. “Assault weapons have one purpose and one purpose only. To kill a large number of people really quick.”
“The opposite is true,” Pavlich said, “it’s light weight, compact very accurate and very good against stopping a violent threat.”