I was wrong about the Second Amendment: Why my view of guns totally changed

[hunter]

32. Without very intense training, a gun in a purse isn't much "protection" against a random rapist.

It might be of some use dealing with a recognized stalker not known to carry arms himself, but the rational solution to that problem is for the law to deal with stalkers effectively with something more than restraining orders.

In spite of what we see on television, and hear in anecdotes, guns are rarely useful in self defense. They usually make a bad situation much worse.

Look at cops -- they are supposedly trained to use guns, but they frequently shoot "suspects" for no good reason, they shoot innocent people, bystanders, and they are occasionally shot with their own guns.