Canada is a dangerous place for women, and is becoming steadily more dangerous. At first, there were stories in the newspapers and on television about violent crime involving people we didn't know. Then we began to hear about friends and acquaintances who were robbed, raped, mugged, and murdered. In some cases, we ourselves were the victims. We bolted our doors, installed alarm systems, and expanded our police departments. Yet still we grew more frightened. Now some of us will not even go out alone at night! Have we become a nation of helpless sheep, victims all?
We all have the will to live. We all have a right to live. In your opinion, does protecting that right justify the use of force? It is a very real question. I have had people tell me to rely on police protection. I don't any more, because the violent criminals who shattered homes and families on the fringes of my life were not stopped by the police or the justice system. The only thing a violent criminal really does fear is a "victim" who is armed and capable of protecting herself.
Living as one sheep-like citizen in a nation of helpless sheep is dangerous. We need more sheepdogs. Women need to learn--for their own sake--that they cannot depend on anyone else to protect them from criminal violence. Women need to be able to stop criminals, to keep them at a safe distance during the time between the arrival of the criminal and the arrival of the police.
We are seeing more and more individuals who decide to kill and then commit "suicide by cop" or plain suicide. There is no way to deter a suicide, as the terrorists in the Middle East have proved. There is no law that can control them!
The Ecole Polytechniique massacre of 19 young women in Montreal was an action by a person who hated women. Marc LePine decided to end his own life, but not before taking innocent young women with him. The law failed to keep guns out of his hands. It is not difficult to get an illegal gun; the country is awash with smuggled guns.
The 2006 Dawson College shooting was another lone person who decided to end his own life and take others with him. He obeyed the laws, got a licence, and bought guns legally. The laws failed to stop him, too--failed to prevent what happened. Our gun control system is as useless as the teats on a boar when it comes to stopping violent criminals bent on suicide.
So there you have it. The law, the police, and the justice system cannot stop a violent criminal who chooses to use an illegal gun. Nor can they stop one who chooses to use a legal gun--or any other weapon. We need better answers!
We have waited for changes. We have demanded longer prison terms for violent criminals, to keep them off our streets. We are not getting either. Violent crime rates are continuing to escalate, year after year.
I do not want to be in a position of imminent danger. I do not want to be in the same room with a criminal who intends to rape, injure, or murder me or someone under my protection. Innocent law-abiding persons do not deserve to be subjected to such evil and hideous violent crime. But these things happen--and today, it is becoming more and more likely that you--yes, you--will be in this situation. Continuing to deny and ignore the brutal and ugly situation in our country cannot and does not provide effective protection for any of us. The person who looks ahead and prepares will have a much better chance of surviving.
What can a woman do to make herself and those under her protection safer? Like most women, I thought, "Not very much." Then I found the National Firearms Association, and my world changed.
I am most grateful to David Tomlinson, who so patiently taught me how to shoot--and then trained me as a handgun instructor. He continues to assist me and share his knowledge with me. I also thank a firearms instructor I'm now working with, Jim Salisbury from Ontario, and James Cameron of Safeguard who trained me for my Utah Concealed Firearm Permit. Trained by these men, I recently taught my son-in-law how to shoot a handgun accurately--before he entered police college! Today I enjoy teaching law-abiding people how to shoot as an NFA-approved firearms instructor (instructress?). I am no longer helpless.
Just yesterday, Jim and I taught the NFA's "Two Inches at 7 Yards" course (pistol shooting) and the safe handling of firearms course to two more individuals. One was a student who was training to become a police officer. The other plans to become a border control officer. Both became capable of shooting 2-inch groups with a handgun--in the course of one afternoon! The NFA course really works, so I love teaching it!
But--back to my point. Canada's violent crime problem has reached epidemic proportions. It is not a gun problem. According to Statistics Canada, you are six times more likely to be injured or killed if the violent criminal is using anything but a gun! A lot of our violent crime involves knives and other weapons. You already know from your daily news that the danger is real and getting worse. The era in which we live in has just become too damn dangerous. Women now need to learn how to protect themselves against abuse. I have done that, and do I feel better!
A few months ago I went to the most recent women's "take back the night" walk with my daughter. Ironically, we walked on the night of the first anniversary of the murder of one of my daughters closest friends--murdered last year by her estranged husband. Two weeks prior to her murder, she had a restraining order placed on him. While it was in place, a group of female friends, including her, spent the night at my daughter's home. In the small hours of the morning, all their cars--including hers--were vandalized. There was no way to prove he did it.
She was to meet my daughter the next morning, but before dawn he broke into her home and murdered her as she lay asleep. It took the police a long time to find out exactly how she died, because he took her body away in his car to a remote location. He lit the car on fire and then held her in his arms as he committed suicide.
What deterrent works on a man who has decided to die? A restraining order is clearly useless.
We are seeing more and more violent crimes. We are seeing more and more criminals who intend to die after murdering the innocent. Far too often the law can't stop them, although it tries. The police can't stop them, although they try. They just can't be there before it starts. No one can stop it but someone who just happens to be there when it starts--and usually, the only person who is there is the victim.
Many law-abiding Canadian firearm owners now have the Utah Concealed Firearm Permit that I have. I am grateful that 30 U.S. state governments trust me, and respect my desire to carry a handgun for the protection of human life from criminal violence. I am angry that my own government treats me (and others) as a menace to society when I even talk about this! Yes, that's right. There are 30 U.S. states that honor my permit, and the list is continuing to grow--but the Canadian government still won't recognize my skills and training. It says that possession of a firearm is a crime, and that anyone who has a firearm is a danger to society.
The state of Utah enacted mandatory-issue concealed handgun licensing laws in 1995. Unlike most states, Utah did not make schools an exclusion zone for lawful carrying. With that permit, a teacher on duty or a parent coming to pick up a child from school can lawfully carry a concealed handgun in a Utah school building. They have been trained, checked, and tested, so they are trusted. If a maniac starts anything in a Utah school, he can be stopped. And he knows it! So which kids are safer? Those in a Utah school, or those in a state where carrying a handgun is totally forbidden? There are states where the gun control system cannot and does not stop a violent criminal from acquiring and carrying guns, but does prevent carriage by honest, trained citizens. If allowed to carry, those good citizens who just happened to be present could stop a violent criminal from committing mass murder.
Utah now has eleven years of experience. Utah has had exactly zero reported problems arising from individuals with concealed firearms permits misusing guns at schools, students stealing guns from teachers, or teachers using their firearms to shoot or threaten students, parents, or each other. During the same period, they also have had exactly zero mass murder problems in Utah schools. I learned that from the American researcher, Dr. David Kopel.
Is it possible the danger does not lie where the anti-gun people think it lies?
Much of the anti-gun rhetoric and demand for more anti-gun legislation comes from women. One of my jobs in the NFA is to study that problem, and ways to deal with it.
Women are women. It doesn't matter if I'm out West visiting the NFA office, travelling through the United States, overseas with the NFA, or back at home in Ontario, where I raised my children. I've had the opportunity to speak to women from all over the world! I've talked to women who enjoy owning and using firearms for hunting, trap shooting, and target shooting. I've talked to women who have and have not been victims of violent crime. I've talked to women who are absolutely terrified of firearms. I've talked to women who have been victims of violent crime, and women who refuse to be victimized.
When I asked women how they would stop a violent attacker, including a violent partner or an intruder into their home, they gave me a wide variety of answers:
I would pick up a kitchen chair and threaten to hit him with it!
I'm afraid of guns, but I don't think twice about sleeping with a knife!
I think a woman should have an alarm in her home to detect illegal entry, and wear an alarm button around her neck so she can push the button to alert the police when she is about to be attacked.
I don't need a weapon to defend myself. If a woman acts like a coward, she will be attacked. I have the right attitude. I know I weigh only 115 pounds, but I work out everyday and I'm in great shape!
What is wrong with these answers?
None of them allow the woman to keep a safe distance between herself and her violent attacker. None of them are likely to allow a woman to stop an attacker. None of them really deal with the time between the moment she becomes aware of the attacker and the moment when the police can arrive. It is my job to bring these little problems--and others--to their attention.
A woman today knows she is vulnerable to criminal violence. It makes no difference if her attacker is her partner, someone she knows, or a stranger.
Alarms mean nothing today, because police just cannot respond in time to arrive before the crime has been committed or even before the criminal has completed his crime and left the scene.
More and more it is becoming important to realize that it is very difficult to stop the criminal who has decided to die and just wants to take others with him. The suicide murderer is becoming a fixture of our society.
Installing surveillance or security cameras is not a viable answer. Sure, the camera can sometimes aid the police in catching a perpetrator by recording his photograph--but not before he has raped, robbed, injured, or murdered! It is not possible for a camera to stop a violent criminal.
Improving a woman's security is difficult. Installing alarm systems is old technology. Giving a woman in danger a lifeline to wear around her neck is newer. The latest seems to be giving her a Blackberry to do the same thing the alarm button does. None of these options is guaranteed to stop the violent criminal from attacking her. None of them can keep her or her children at a safe distance from her attacker. And after she has pushed the button, she still must wait for the police to actually arrive.
There was an example of a "best case" scenario in the city of Edmonton, Alberta recently. A female security guard detected an intruder, late at night. She called in about him, and the dispatcher patched her through to the police. While she was talking to the police, the man came forward and took her phone. He told the police he had come in out of the cold, and needed a cab. The police agreed to send a cab, and then spoke to the victim again, promising to send a squad car. The police attended as soon as they could. He was in the middle of raping her for the third time when they arrived. That is the best possible case--the police were called before the attack started-- but even that didn't work. It is a pity that Canadian firearms control bureaucrats, backed by the Canadian government, won't allow a woman with that job to be armed.
What does a woman do while she is waiting for police to arrive? How does she protect herself and her children? What about a woman in danger who lives in a rural area? It takes a long time for police stationed miles away to arrive! Even in the city, it takes too long!
A firearm is not the weapon of choice in all cases. Let us not forget something else that happened right here in Canada. When an irate man was angry at his estranged girlfriend, he poured gasoline on the stairway leading to busy second-floor dance hall. It was the only way out. He committed mass murder by arson--trapping, injuring, and killing many innocent people. Did the alarm system save them? No. Was anyone able to predict before he did it that he would be capable of committing such a heinous crime? No. Could the police have prevented or interrupted this crime? No. They were not there. Could someone who just happened to be there have prevented or interrupted this crime? Yes--but only if he or she was properly equipped and trained.
Can you defend yourself? Can you do everything in your power to save yourself, even if it means using some kind of force in order to do so? Or are you willing to die for the sake of the principle of never harming or threatening another? As a parent or protector of a child, how do you feel about protecting your child or loved one? If there is no other choice available, can you do whatever is necessary to stop someone who clearly intends to rape, injure, or murder the child under your protection?
Okay, let's turn this around. How you would feel afterwards if you did nothing effective while watching an attacker rape, injure, or murder a child? How would you feel about someone else who took effective action to stop a criminal who tried to rape, injure, or murder you or your child?
Now, ask yourself how you feel about a judge and a justice system that lets a vicious attacker out on bail? Ask yourself, is there any way that the system can control him while he is out on bail, particularly if he is suicidal? What do you think about a court issuing a restraining order?
Are we getting anywhere?
It hasn't been that long since my daughter finished college--which was an exciting time for her, but also a scary time for both of us. First-time freedom! Me worrying. It's hard for a parent to turn over our role as protector to our children.
You might be interested to know that the NFA has received many emails and phone calls from female university students expressing their fears. These young people are living in a whole new territory, being on their own for the first time. They suffer from fear of date rape, random violence, and the effects of substance abuse on others around them. Justifiably! So of course the first thing the NFA does is send them Dave's "Lioness Method of Rape Prevention." Some are already more advanced, and say they grew up in homes where firearms were always present. Those who already know how to use a firearm need to know what the laws are regarding protection of human life from criminal violence. Others explain that they have no idea how to use a firearm--but realize they have only themselves to depend on for protection. They are seeking information in order to find out what they need to do and where to go to learn how to use a firearm.
No matter how many laws are passed, there will always be those for whom they have no meaning and serve as no deterrent. Those who believe otherwise have their heads dangerously high in the clouds. If you are a woman, you should read Armed and Female and Stayin' Alive: Armed And Female in an Unsafe World by Paxton Quigley. She used to be where you are and I was, but she learned. Just as I did…
If there is one thing we must learn from history, it is that severe gun control laws do not work to reduce violent crime levels.
{mosbookmarks:bm=1446;box=2}
{mosbookmarks:bm=1445;box=2}
{mosbookmarks:bm=1447;box=2}