Or let only the female soldiers carry 24x7. Problem solved and no need for surgery.

It's like wearing a seatbelt. Yes, in some circumstances it's possible for the belt to do more harm than good but you are still better off buckling up than not. Guns are an effective equalizer for women.

Guns are rarely effective for anything except shooting people

I am a simple (some say simple-minded) guy. You have a rapist. You have a woman. Man attempts rape, is shot, dies. One less rapist in the world. This is a good thing, nu?

They are both valid approaches. But I submit my approach has a better chance of success, where it matters - to the individual.

Myself if it came down to the choice of a rapist doing his deed or my shooting the cad, I'd choose the latter and take my chances with a jury.

This seems like a perfectly viable means of dealing with, if not rape, then rapists.

Let me just stand in for the common sense you both seem to lack: you understand each other perfectly well. You just don't agree and it's unlikely that you ever will so there's no point in your continuing this moronic debate.

M'kay? That's great. B'bye now.

Otherhow, that's totally fucking disturbing about the thing in Iraq. It's like we haven't moved an inch since Tailhook. One of the many ironies of Bush's unilateral approach to his status as "commander-in-chief of the military" is that he claims absolute right to send the military wherever he wants to fight whoever he tells them to fight-- but he doesn't take any responsibility for shit like this. So he's the "commander-in-chief", but nobody expects him to be a leader and order changes in practice and policy that would make female soldiers safe in the field.