A decade after India's 'gun for women,' safety debate far from settled
NEW DELHI -- On a cold and foggy December morning, 55-year-old Shahana Begum -- affectionately known as "Aunt With a Gun" -- sat with a rifle across her lap.
Begum, who lives in Shahjahanpur in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, had learned from her father how to shoot and obtained a gun license in 2007, after her husband died and she felt she needed protection. She said she had once learned first-hand how a gun could help: "When I was traveling with my husband and some goons started to follow our car, I took the revolver which belonged to my husband and fired twice in the air," scaring them off.