Growing number of women have access to guns

>> citi.com/thankucards to apply.

>>> here's something new and interesting in the gun control debate. vice president joe biden , who of course is the president's point man on guns, now says he coached his on wife on self-defense. they own, he says, two shotguns.

>> as i told my wife, we live in an area that's wooded and it's somewhat secluded. if there's ever a problem, walk out on the balcony and put that double barrel shotgun and fire two blasts outside the house. i promise you whoever is coming in --

>> his point is that assault rifles are not the answer. the gun debate is escalating as the number of women buying guns is on the rise as well. a gallup poll found in 2005 , 13% of women owned gun and in 2011 , up to 23%. gun shops say they are now seeing a surge since newtown . i'm joined by kelly wallace and leah goldman for " marie claire ."

>> it's really about the demographics. now you're seeing this surge of women getting married later, single longer, really running their households by themselves and the gun manufacturers and gun lobby has figured that out. so now they are marketing to those women and saying, safety ladies, you need to arm yourself with a gun.

>> making smaller guns and pink guns and guns can put in your cleavage.

>> some women will say, they are sort of offended by the use of pink, although one woman in a story said at least her husband wasn't going to use it. but there is something there. more women in law enforcement and more women in the military , single mothers , owning their own businesses. the issue then becomes this kind of look at the statistics, right? women are more likely to be a victim of gun violence than using a gun --

>> far more likely.

>> exactly.

>> one study showed women with guns in the home are three times more likely to be victims of homicide than women who live in households that don't have a gun.

>> having a gun in your home definitely increases your risk as a woman, not a man, as a woman of being a victim of gun related violence. that said, there is a healthy contention in this country that supports owning a gun for safety measures and by and large, that's -- this is what he is talking about when i said i instructed my wife how to use a shotgun. the issue is arm yourself but do you need a semiautomatic weapon to do that.

>> magazine with 30 clips, yeah.

>> i think women don't support that.

>> the other part of it is and there was talk in the immediate aftermath of newtown , would there be something analogous to the drunk driving controversy? mothers against drunk driving , definitely changed the conversation. they were behind laws and now it's not socially acceptable to drink and drive, it was moms who did that. are you surprised -- i know both of you hear from readers, are you hearing from women in a way they would come together and look for not taking a way people's guns all together -- but more control?

>> i think definitely. you're seeing a couple of things. i think you are seeing moms who say that moms get things done and moms can mobilize in marches and states, mobilize in washington and make voices heard in the 2014 election. we do see moms on the other side too who do feel no gun control isn't the answer, it's going the wrong way. focus on mental health , doing more to help the kids in need and don't take away what some moms will say is my right to have a gun and protect ourself. even though as we're discussing here, the stats are more likely a gun in the home could lead to being a victim of violence than using it in self-defense.

>> what we hear from our readers at marie claire , who aren't necessarily married but running their own households and single, they appreciate the choice of owning a gun and yet, they subscribe to reasonable measures when it comes to gun safety and gun control , a national reg tri and universal background checks by most women . these are reasonable common sense measures that i think most women , moms, single, doesn't matter subscribe too.

>> one of the things i've found after newtown , in my entire career in reporting, never have so many people affected by a story such as newtown . they are talking about it as many. i wonder if you felt kmared to other stories you run that it had a lot of traction and depth?

>> it does and it continues to have that --

>> still?

>> still, absolutely. and women are responding, but i have to say, just like you hear from your readers, we really hear from women passionately on both sides. we did a q and a with the vice president's chief of staff on washington and wanted questions on gun control , i would say it was 50/50, half asking more about supportive of gun control measures in washington and the other half saying this is the wrong way to go. focus elsewhere, don't go ahead and put more laws on the books. you're hearing passion but we're hearing it from both sides.

>> ivillage's kelly wallace and leah goldman. great to see you both.