‘A handgun is a girl’s best friend’

By Dimitri Vassilaros
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, October 3, 2002

Preventing rape is not funny. At least it shouldn’t be. Somebody should have mentioned that to the audience before the recent first televised gubernatorial debate at Penn State. Candidates were asked what they would do to encourage rape victims to report the crime to authorities. One of the four gave an answer few were expecting. The audience and the other three thought he was joking.

Three East End women recently reported they were sexually assaulted. Two University of Pittsburgh students said their attackers confronted them with guns. A woman in the Highland Park neighborhood said her attacker also had a gun.

A man who in 1993 pleaded guilty to rape, kidnapping, indecent assault and other charges now stands accused of attempted murder for allegedly beating KDKA-Channel 2 reporter Mary Berecky with a club at a car wash.

Libertarian candidate Ken Krawchuck must have had people like that in mind when he answered, “It’s obvious that a handgun is a girl’s best friend.” After the laughter subsided, Green Party candidate Michael Morrill said it’s insane to advise a woman to combat violence with violence.

Should she combat violence with submission?

Generally speaking, a woman who can defend herself is less likely to become a victim. Monsters who prey on women probably believe their victims cannot harm them. But what if the potential victims could? Or at least, what if the monsters thought they could?

The one common denominator among predators ? human and animal ? is that they usually hunt the weakest to maximize their odds of success and minimize their odds of injury. Tigers seldom ambush elephants. Thugs seldom mug cops. Self-preservation is nature’s way.

Universities and colleges usually want to improve security ? on and off campus. One of the most effective ways would be to include firearms training as part of freshman orientation. If you have made it this far into the column, you know this is not a joke. Each student would be encouraged to consider whether to own a firearm. Instead of downplaying the policy, the school should send news releases to every media outlet and encourage reporters to sit in on the orientation.

Getting the word out to the public is important. Potential predators would know that if they try to attack students from that school, they could be fired on by co-eds with handguns. Big Media probably would ridicule institutions for introducing students to the great equalizer for their own protection. That would be the same Big Media that does stories during ratings periods about how unsafe colleges and university campuses are these days.

After the media ridicule subsidizes, chances are violent crime at such institutions would decrease substantially. There would be fewer sexual assaults. After reading and hearing all the news reports about freshman firearms orientation, predators would avoid such dangerous hunting grounds. They would look for easier targets on other campuses. Big Media probably would downplay the success of the firearms orientation. Or, more likely, ignore it.

In 2002, a candidate can startle otherwise educated people by suggesting women defend themselves. Those amused by that might not realize the joke is on them.

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