Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright made the suggestion Monday while discussing the arrest of a suspect in an attempted rape last weekend.
Wright suggests that women carry a .45-caliber weapon because he says they wouldn't have to be accurate, just close to the target. He showed reporters at a news conference a fanny pack women could use to carry a handgun while jogging.
The sheriff encouraged women to walk in groups. And he said it's better to carry a gun than mace.
Forty-six-year-old Walter Monroe Lance of Spartanburg was charged Monday with kidnapping, first-degree criminal sexual conduct and grand larceny in a Sunday attack on a woman in a park.
