Aim at Self-Defense, Urges Author of ‘Armed & Female’

Paxton Quigley will always remember the 1 a.m. phone call from a terrified friend in 1986. It was a call that turned the anti-gun public-relations manager into a full-time crusader for women’s empowerment. Empowerment through firearms, Quigley told a crowd of East Ventura County National Rifle Assn. members Thursday night.

“I saw her in her position and said, ‘This will not happen to me,’ ” said Quigley, recalling the bruises and torn pajamas of the friend, who had been raped by a stranger in her Beverly Hills home. The woman had called the police after she heard glass breaking in her bathroom only to have them arrive 30 minutes after she was raped and the attacker had fled.

The revelation came to Quigley in the hospital waiting room, as she turned to her shaken friend. “I said to her out of nowhere, ‘Do you think if you had a gun you could have stopped the attacker?’ ” said the best-selling author of “Armed & Female: Twelve Million American Women Own Guns, Should You?”

“And she looked at me and said, ‘Yes.’ ”

At that moment, Quigley abandoned her distrust of guns. The next day, she signed up for a firearms class. And nine years later, she has written two books on women and firearms and runs personal-protection seminars all over the country.

Real-estate agent Madeline Kraemer of Thousand Oaks, who has owned a gun for 20 years, attended Quigley’s talk Thursday and would like to take one of her firearms classes.

“I’m interested in guns and protecting myself,” Kraemer said. “Police can’t do that good a job. Police show up after the deed has been done, and I don’t want to be a victim.”

Quigley found kindred spirits in Simi Valley, where City Councilwoman Sandi Webb has declared publicly that she carries a concealed weapon without a permit and doesn’t intend to stop. Webb is a member of the NRA’s east county chapter, which was formed in June to oppose gun control initiatives and encourage the county to grant more permits for carrying concealed weapons.

Although Quigley preaches that guns are the great equalizer between men and women, she urges the use of guns only as a last resort, she said. Her main goal is to empower women of all ages through self-defense techniques.

But Quigley leaves the touchy-feely self-esteem training to others. She says inner strength will not protect a woman from would-be attackers. That is why the sale of handguns to women--and the number of women learning to use them--is on the rise.

“If she hasn’t been a crime target, she knows someone who has,” Quigley said. “Besides, women are more savvy now. They realize that they can’t rely on a husband, brother, boyfriend or the police.”

But Ventura County Sheriff’s Deputy Larry Logan said people who carry guns must not only be trained, but prepared to use them.

“A lot of it’s mental,” he said. “If you tell someone you’re going to shoot, and they come toward you, and you don’t, it can easily be taken away from you.”

Logan said gun owners also must consider who will be near the firearm when it isn’t used.

“There is little more tragic than a child who gets access to a loaded gun and shoots himself,” he said. “I’ve seen that.”

Quigley said that not nearly enough has been written on the subject of women, guns and gun safety. After taking her first firearms class, Quigley decided to write a book about self-defense for women.

“Armed & Female” hit the shelves in 1989, selling 130,000 copies.

Her book was even popular with men. Quigley was asked by the male owners of an Orange County shooting range to teach gun safety to women, launching her career as an instructor. After running gun-safety seminars in Alaska, Illinois, Idaho, Beverly Hills and many other places, Quigley noticed that her women students appreciate an instructor they can relate to.

“When they take a class from a man or there are other men in the class, many women find it intimidating,” she said. “Even though there are wonderful men who teach such classes, they don’t know what it’s like to be a woman and the fears that they have.”

People attending Thursday’s NRA event applauded Quigley’s efforts to attract more women to the world of firearms.

“We can’t be successful unless we’re respected in the community,” said Mike Mason, president of the East Ventura County NRA Members’ Council. “That means providing junior shooting and women’s programs.”

After Quigley’s speech, NRA members circulated sign-up sheets for a women’s clinic.

“When they learn how to use a gun, and that they can control it and often shoot very well, they become empowered,” Quigley said. “It changes your life. It certainly changed mine.”