Stayin' Alive: Armed and Female in an Unsafe World [Paperback]

Paxton Quigley (Author)

Book Description

Release date: August 30, 2005

Stayin' Alive is "the bible of women's gun self-defense." More than 12 million American women own a gun for self protection and this book is written for them and the millions more thinking about buying one.

Editorial Reviews

Review

In the Women's gun movement, Paxton Quigley is the great persuader. -- Morley Safer, 60 Minutes

Paxton Quigley - an expert on women on home intrusion and rape. -- Oprah Winfrey

Paxton Quigley directly addrsses an all-American concern. -- Wall Street Journal

About the Author

Coming from a liberal, mid-western, anti-gun background, Paxton Quigley made an about-face when her best friend was raped. She vowed not to let it happen to her. She bought a gun and became an expert on self-defense. Her first book Armed & Female was a best seller. She became a spokesperson for Smith & Wesson and a firearms instructor.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Merril Press (August 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0936783435
• ISBN-13: 978-0936783437
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 0.4 x 5.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #705,805 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

77 of 78 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Woman's Guide To Guns January 1, 2006

By John R. Lott Jr.

From my review in the January 1, 2006 New York Post:

WHAT should a woman do when attacked by a criminal? Should she behave passively? Use pepper spray? A gun?

Most people hope they'll get lucky and never be attacked. For those who want to think ahead, there is Paxton Quigley's new book, "Stayin' Alive."

It turns out that pepper spray may not do you a lot of good when it is raining or snowing. A woman is just as likely to disable herself as the attacker when it's windy or when using the spray indoors.

Knives and baseball bats are particularly problematic, because women have to get very close to their attackers to use them, and male criminals - that is, most criminals - tend to be much stronger physically than their female victims. When it comes to physical contact, women generally lose those fights.

The advantage of a gun is that it is ideal for keeping the criminal far away from the victim. And the victim isn't responsible for restraining the criminal, as police officers are when arresting suspects. A woman simply wants to keep the criminal away from her.

There have been a lot of good books lately exploding the myth that guns endanger people's safety. (And at least one very notable movie, Larry Elder's "Michael & Me," devastatingly tackles many of the false claims in Michael Moore's "Bowling for Columbine.") Quigley's book covers a lot of ground, such as the myths about personal defense, when it is appropriate to use lethal force, whether there are any risks to firing a gun while pregnant (apparently not), how often children are killed by accidental gun shots (very rarely) and how one goes about choosing the best gun for a particular individual's needs. The book answers these questions from a woman's perspective....

What works defensively for men doesn't always work for women. As Quigley points out, women who used a gun to resist an attack were 2.5 times more likely to escape uninjured than those who behaved passively. Guns aren't as beneficial for men. They are only 1.4 times more likely to escape uninjured than those who behaved passively.

The book includes real-life examples of defensive gun use and offers academic research on the millions of times each year that people use guns defensively. These good-news stories help Quigley illustrate how women actually react in life-threatening situations. And she also does well explaining what women should know before choosing a gun.

The book could have gone further debunking common misperceptions about guns. Take the claim that "you're more likely to shoot yourself or a family member than kill an attacker." This study assumed that whenever anyone in a gun-owning home was killed by a gun, it was that gun that caused the harm. But academics have found that at least 86 percent of the time, that assumption was wrong - and most of other cases were suicides.

While recent polls show that more households own guns after 9/11, there is still a lot of fear and uncertainty about guns, which may keep people from doing what is best for their family's safety. Quigley's book cuts through a lot of that unjustified fear.

John R. Lott Jr. is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and the author of "The Bias Against Guns." Read more ›

52 of 53 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Why should a woman have a gun? Adults take responsibility for their own personal safety! December 29, 2005

By Alan D. Cranford VINE™ VOICE

Amazon Verified Purchase

Paxton Quigley is at it again in her 2004 book, "Stayin' Alive." Many people, for many various reasons, strongly object to women possessing guns. All who prey upon women object to armed females because their prey isn't supposed to even think about fighting back. Others have a death fetish.

A far deadlier device is the automobile. People who object to women driving and riding automobiles are shunned in our society. The real reason is that driving is a sign of maturity, responsibility, and independence in our culture. Yet the automobile is a bigger killer than guns, and guns are intended to be dangerous-it makes guns useful as a deterrent and useful for shutting off an attack. My personal opinion is that if someone isn't responsible enough to own a gun, they shouldn't be licensed to drive automobiles either. The automobile is harder to use safely-guns are really simple mechanical devices.

In "Stayin' Alive: Armed and Female in an Unsafe World," Paxton Quigley provides success stories of women saving their own lives and the lives of their children with handguns. She discusses the issues of child safety-and "CAP laws" (Child Access Prevention). Quigley taught me a few things in her book: warnings about how your VIN compromises your automobile's anti-theft devices and security measures for your checks and your stolen wallet are useful information for anybody. In addition to providing evidence against the modern media-driven urban myths about firearms, Quigley covers tactics, formal schools, buying guns, choosing ammunition and equipment, and recommending non-gun alternative weapons.... There is even a chapter on "Sport Shooting and Hunting," which most women probably won't find interesting-despite feminist rhetoric about access to the "boys' tree house," guns and hunting are still regarded as a "guy thing." This may be the only exposure to hunting for many women-I recommend everyone get a hunting license even if they don't hunt because the hunter safety course by your state's wildlife management department will introduce you to gun safety, you'll learn about your state's wild animals, and you'll have a better idea of what is going on in "public lands." Plus, your license fee will care for public lands and the creatures living on them. You need not hunt simply because you got a license! I find it funny that so many know nothing about a subject, yet have their own "expert opinion" on it. Guns are not for everyone. Being informed about guns, even if you cannot or will not own any, is important for any adult who can vote. "Stayin' Alive" isn't the last word in gun knowledge, but you could do worse.

I am fairly knowledgeable about firearms-23 years in the military, two decades of security officer experience (with anti-terrorist work), and a library of gun books. I don't know everything about guns, so I keep adding to my library. "Stayin' Alive: Armed and Female in an Unsafe World" is a worthwhile addition to my library. Paxton Quigley taught me new things in her book. This book is more about WHY having a gun may be good than how to use a gun-and gives the reader a tool to find qualified instructors. It is finally sinking in that adults need to provide their own bottom-line security because nobody else will. Read more ›

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars by a woman for women May 3, 2007

By bookloversfriend

It is ironic that the people who need to have a gun the most are the ones who are afraid to own one: women. Paxton Quigley has been working to change all that. This little book gives a quickie course on what women need to know and why they need to know it. The book contains a number of true stories of women using guns to protect themselves. And as every such book needs to do, it exposes all the lies the media tell about guns.

Give a copy of this to every woman friend you have. After reading this, you'll be wondering why you and everyone else in this society has been so convinced for so long that it is a bad thing to have a gun around. This book explodes many of the lies and myths that have been packed around the image of the gun and the notion of gun-ownership, as well as the image of gun owners (read "gun nuts"). The biggest myth, of course, is "911". People infer almost magical powers to dialing 911. Read this book and find out why only doing that is suicidal.

The Second Amendment is needed now more than ever, because now not only the Second but the First and Fourth Amendments are slipping away; and this is happening at the most critical time in our history. If you don't know why, read While America Sleeps: How Islam, Immigration and Indoctrination Are Destroying America From Within. Things are going to get worse, much worse. People living near the border already have guns: they need them every day. But illegals and jihadists are being bussed throughout the country. They blend in with the peaceful and moderate and are "invisible" until they strike. Then, everyone says, "why didn't we see them?..." Read Michelle Malkin's book and its stories about crimes committed by these people. We don't have much time. Learn why, then act to protect yourself. Read more ›