(For more of Kate's story, get Armed and Female by Paxton Quigley. On second thought, just get it. It is very educational.)
"All the time I was locked in the trunk, I could hear him yelling from his driver's seat about what he was going to do to me."
Kate Petit's car sputtered to a stop on a Florida highway between Tampa and Lake Kissimmee.
Kate was stranded all right. What looked to her like a mixture of smoke and steam was pouring out the top, bottom and sides of the engine compartment. She knew it was safer to stay in the car with the windows and doors secured, but sitting in a burning car, to her thinking, was far more dangerous than getting out. She grabbed her purse and took up a position at the side of the road at a considered distance from her car's gas tank.
She did not know what to expect next. She had heard so many stranded-women-on-the-highway stories that she had became short of breath and nervous as soon as she pulled to a stop on the shoulder of the road. Just being stopped on the highway was unnerving enough, but with the car burning she just hoped--well maybe prayed--for a state trooper. One who would just arrive. Some yes-ma'am trooper who would tell her not to worry and take her home.
The car that stopped was not a highway patrol car. Kate tried to reason with herself. Anyone who stopped, short of an actual policeman, could be more of a problem than her disabled car--but she knew she couldn't stand there all day. So she greeted the well-dressed, middle-aged good Samaritan with enthusiasm for his assistance and a big hello.
"I had to sum up the situation in a hurry," said Kate. "Here was this respectable-looking gentleman who stopped an expensive-looking car on the highway and backed all the way up to me and my burning car. I didn't have much choice except to ask him for help."
She was right. She had no choice. After being polite and sympathetic until he was physically close to her, the man took a knife from inside of his suit coat and pressed it sharply into Kate's ribs. He told her that if she didn't cooperate, he would push the knife into her heart.
He slit a tear in her blouse and she felt the knife cut her. She was absolutely numb. All of a sudden there was no more fear of being stuck on the highway or any concern for her car. She was this man's prisoner.
Kate was ordered into the trunk of his car. The man drove with her in the trunk for what she guessed to be half an hour. The last few minutes were on an unpaved road; then the car stopped, and the engine was turned off. During the entire time, the man yelled obscenities aimed at the terrified woman in the trunk. She didn't answer when he demanded to know if she could hear him, so he yelled louder and got more obscene. Kate recalls vividly the sound of the key in the trunk lock when the car stopped.
By the time she heard that sound, Kate had repositioned herself so that she was lying on her back, her feet tucked up under her and her knees pushing hard up against the inside of the license plate wall. Kate's head was jammed up against the back seat, and she hoped the overhang wouldn't obstruct a clear view of him when he opened the trunk. She knew he would have his knife out. That was the only thing she was really sure of.
Kate doesn't remember when the man stopped yelling at her in the trunk, and doesn't remember what he said when he opened the trunk. All she remembers is the flood of daylight momentarily blinding her when the trunk lid popped open and the almost slow-motion sight of the bullet holes being made in the man's chest by the .38 caliber revolver she had taken out of her purse.
She had planned to shoot every bullet in her gun at the man when the trunk opened, but after three shots he slumped into the trunk on top of her, stone-dead.
The worst of the nightmare was over, but when he fell on her, bleeding, she became so frightened she thought she was suffocating. "I gashed my head on the lid of the trunk. It was so horrible having him lie on top of me, dead like that." When she got out of the trunk, she forced his legs in beside him and slammed the lid. Then she went over to a tree and threw up.
I've had people tell me that killing someone is never justified. I don't accept that. Killing is horrible, but sometimes the alternative is worse. Kate had 2 options--she could try to stop him, or she could accept what he offered. Had Kate waited, trying alternatives (pleading? appealing to his better nature?) before he got her out of the trunk, what do you think her chances of surviving the torture, rape, and murder he was planning would have been? In my view, stopping the criminal was what she needed to do. She had only one tool that could stop him, and she used it. If she had not used that brief moment when he was surprised to take effective action, would he have been able to turn the tables? To stop her from stopping him? Think about it.
What do you think a female police officer would have done if she were in Kate's situation? Would she have hesitated to stop this criminal before he pulled her out of the trunk? What would you hope she would do and expect her to do? Would you accept it if she did what she had to do to save her own life, as Kate did?
Kate had carried that gun in her purse for years when she drove alone or had to go into areas of town she thought of as unsafe. In all those years, she had never thought about actually having to shoot someone. She had, however, frequently felt safe or less vulnerable when she had her handgun with her. When this horrible thing happened, her worst fear was about not having the opportunity to get to it. "You're not going to believe this, but when he put me in the trunk with my purse, I was very relieved."
The police investigation revealed that the dead man was a twice-convicted felon who had previously been found guilty of 11 counts of sexual assault, including sodomy, child molestation, and rape. He had served several prison sentences in another state for his offences. At the time he picked up Kate on the highway, he was out on parole for good prison behaviour(!) after serving only 22 months for raping a woman and her 12-year-old-daughter.
Although this case was a prescription for heartache, would you agree that in these circumstances her action was right and justified? I believe it was. In my view, Kate had a sound and rational view of life. Do you agree?
This was a man with a violent history, recently released from prison. He was ready and willing to commit another violent crime. I see no sign of conscience or regard for human life. He proved to her that he had a deadly weapon. He used his knife to cut her and threaten her. The whole time Kate was in the trunk, he told her exactly what he planned to do to her.
Going to prison did not "rehabilitate" this man. The system that imprisons such a man (briefly!) is not effective justice. That system allows and teaches criminals to sharpen their skills. Here in Canada we, too, have an overpopulated prison system filled with prisoners who will soon be released. Scary!
Fear and lack of faith in one's country cause many changes in a society. Waiting for too long for better solutions finally causes the people in a society to speak out. That is where we are today in Canada.
Violence is about power and control. That brings up an interesting question: How does the violence in today's increasingly violent society (overrun by gangs and individuals carrying weapons and peddling drugs) affect women like me and our children? The government and the police cannot protect us. It is not possible to protect anyone unless the protector is at the place where the attack takes place--and the criminals do not attack while a police officer is present. Naturally, government and police are not held accountable when they fail to protect us, when we are attacked, or even when we are brutally murdered. It wasn't their fault--they just weren't there!
Is it fair then to say that as women we are damned if we do protect ourselves and damned if we don't? It isn't just a matter of morals, principles, and faith. There are laws we are supposed to obey, even if obedience means injury or death. I ask you if it were you, your daughter, your mother, or your wife caught in Kate's situation, what would you want the outcome to be for her, for your loved one?
I think there are many who would agree with me when I say I'm thankful the innocent victim in this case was armed. I am happy that she survived. Her attacker didn't think before he chose his victim. He assumed his victim was not armed and could not defend herself--as most women would be, including almost all women in Canada. We Canadian women are not allowed to carry the tools we need to protect ourselves! The criminals are being protected from us, but we are not being protected from the criminals.
There are those who will disagree with me. Some women will accept the consequences--even death--rather than try to save their own lives. Tragically, their lives often end as a nasty headline.
The police often tell us to stay put inside our homes or our cars, stressing their warnings about keeping our doors locked--but women frequently run into situations where following their advice is just not possible. Kate had no choice. Her car was on fire, and she had to get out of it.
Yes, a cell phone would have allowed her to make a call--but she didn't have one. Not every women has a cell phone, not every cell phone is fully charged, and not every area is suitable for cell phone use. Kate was alone, stranded, forced to stand outside her car, vulnerable. Forced into the trunk of his car, she had no way to tell anyone where she was or where the violent criminal was taking her.
Such a criminal carries out his brutal actions with little or no regard to the sanctity of human life. He does not fear the justice system or the police. The only thing he does fear is that his victim may be armed.
Kate was prepared, although she never once thought she would ever have to use her gun. She had carried it for years, but not once did she have to use it. She is a great example of the old rule: "It is better to have a handgun and not need it than to need one and not have it."
We have no trouble acknowledging and accepting the fact that the lives of our men and women police officers are in danger every day. No one is shocked or horrified by the fact (the reality) that they train with and carry guns for the protection of human life from criminal violence. We here at the NFA are working to provide Canadian women with a choice--to be able to stop a violent criminal before the police can arrive or to accept whatever the criminal intends to do to her.
It is true that our police officers often go for many years without needing their handgun or the shotgun in the trunk of their police car. In fact, their need for a firearm comes up so rarely that there is not that much difference between their need and ours--the woman's need.
But, wait a minute! Why? Is it not true that our lives and the lives of our loved ones are as important as the lives of our police officers? Are we not also in danger on a daily basis? We absolutely understand and accept that they need the best available tool to protect their safety. But what about us, the innocent and law-abiding women of Canada? Are our lives not every bit as important as those of our police officers? If a few of us are willing to meet the same requirements of firearms proficiency and knowledge of law that an RCMP constable must achieve, why can we not serve as a worry factor for violent criminals? Why can we not serve as a shield of protection for our sisters?
Canadians are now beginning to understand the NFA perspective. We are living in a different and more dangerous era. We can all see that in our daily newspapers and by watching the TV news. It is not clear that we are all in danger from criminal violence, more so today than ever before in Canada? I'm not asking for much, but I say this to every bureaucrat, politician, and police officer: You cannot protect us. That is impossible, because you cannot be there when we are attacked. So please make it possible for us to protect ourselves!