Taylor Woolrich
BBC
A former beauty pageant contestant from California, 20-year-old Taylor Woolrich is the first to admit she's not your usual guns rights campaigner.
She's fighting for the right to carry a weapon on campus, for a very personal reason. For years she's been stalked by a man she first came into contact with while waitressing at a cafe.
He would turn up to see her every day and began to track her down outside work. An emergency restraining order failed to deter him. Things became even more terrifying when she moved across the country to study at Dartmouth college in New Hampshire.
"It wasn't even on my mind, and then he contacted me via LinkedIn and used social media to continue to contact me - sent me various very frightening messages, making it very specific he knew where I was," she says.
One summer, when she went home to California, he turned up at her parents' doorstep. She says police found what they call a "rape kit" - rope tied as a slip-noose, gloves, duct-tape, flash light, and a sweatshirt - inside his car.
Taylor's stalker is currently in jail. His sentence will soon be up.
He's due to face trial soon on further charges relating to her case. Still, Taylor is desperately frightened that he could be released, or allowed out on bail. She's certain that if that happened, he would be able to find her.
For that reason, she wants the right to carry a gun on her university premises, arguing it's the only way she could overpower him if the pair came face to face.
Dartmouth College has refused to comment on this specific case due to privacy laws, but says the safety and security of all students is a top priority for them. Any student who reports being stalked is given personalised and heightened protection. On top of this, safety improvements are made, as and when they are needed, says a spokesman.
Like the vast number of colleges and universities across the country, Dartmouth has a policy which prohibits handguns on campus.
The laws on guns on campuses vary from state to state. In more than half of the country, it's up to the universities themselves to decide weapons policy. In New Hampshire, where Dartmouth is located, the decision is left to the college, which chose to keep its campus gun free.
Many institutions believe that allowing weapons on campus has the potential to inflame tense situations, rather than diffuse them.
I don't dispute the fact that Ms. Woorich's desire to carry a gun is "fear driven," as you describe it in one of the tags, but does that make it wrong?
ReplyDeleteThe decision to not smear one's entire body with bacon grease, and slip into the zoo's tiger enclosure might also be described as "fear driven," but it's still a pretty sensible choice.
The problem with it is many people make tragic mistakes over the fear-driven motive, like getting a gun, for example.
DeleteGetting a gun on the basis of an extensively documented history of being stalked is a "tragic mistake"? Would that "mistake" be more "tragic," or less so, than the mistake of leaving oneself unable to prevent one's rape and murder?
DeleteSo then, we could say the decision not to get a gun is also "fear driven" if you take your advise.
DeleteEvery time a gun is misused, it's tragic. Since instances of misuse far outnumber defensive uses, deciding to get a gun for protection is usually a tragic mistake.
DeleteSince instances of misuse far outnumber defensive uses . . .
DeleteAccording to you, based on . . . whatever you base that . . . novel notion on.
. . . deciding to get a gun for protection is usually a tragic mistake.
Even if the "usually" were true, that doesn't rule out the very real possibility that in this case, allowing herself to be rendered defenseless would be the actual "tragic mistake."
Actually usually nothing bad happens, but you have a whole lot of fun at the range.
DeleteIt sounds like the fear is quite justified. Even documented by the police. She would possibly even qualify for a permit in a good number of may-issue jurisdictions.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't one have to be 21?
DeleteThat depends on the state I believe. Not counting the Constitutional carry states of course. And I just recently completed a degree at a local college, and I'm quite a ways over 21. It was quite ironic that it is perfectly legal for me to carry in the college. However, since its against school rules, I could be expelled for doing so.
DeleteActually, I can find no reference to a minimum age for a concealed carry permit in New Hampshire, either at Handgunlaw.us, or on the CCW permit application. Handgunlaw.us does list 18 as the minimum age for open carry, and it's difficult to imagine concealed carry being any less (18 is the minimum age to own a handgun, under federal law, if I remember correctly).
DeleteI thought it was 21, but here's a map.
Deletehttp://mikeb302000.blogspot.it/2014/12/minimum-age-to-carry-concealed-by-state.html
Short answer, no.
ReplyDeleteChanging the law to accommodate one lady is ridiculous.
If she keeps her gun hidden in her apartment or in her purse when she is out alone, no one need ever know she is carrying a weapon.
It still needs to be illegal to carry a gun. Schools must remain gun free zones.
Fucking duh.
If she keeps her gun hidden in her apartment or in her purse when she is out alone, no one need ever know she is carrying a weapon.
DeleteSo the your proposed "solution" to a law that puts a woman's life at risk is for her to simply violate it, and hope for the best, risking jail time and academic ruination in the process? What if she is forced to use the gun--won't that kinda blow her cover?
Schools must remain gun free zones.
Every school shooter in history heartily agrees. One, in fact, has eloquently expressed his agreement:
"Students who bring guns to school are hardly ever detected," the researcher wrote. "This is shocking to most parents and even other students since it is just as easy to bring a loaded handgun to school as it is to bring a calculator."
...Ultimately, "a school is no place for a gun," he concluded.
The author was Columbine killer Eric Harris, who chose "Guns in Schools" for his report topic. It's not hard to see why he would favor "gun-free school zones."
So the your proposed "solution" . . .
DeleteOops, sorry about the superfluous "the"--one would think that by now I'd be more careful about editing on the fly.
Like almost every school shooter in history, he did not choose the school BECAUSE it was gun free. He chose it because he had some grievance with the school or the students. His observation about the ease with which one can carry a gun onto school grounds is not the same as "heartily" agreeing that schools should remain gun free so he can go there and wreak havoc. That's just more of your twisting bullshit.
Delete. . . he did not choose the school BECAUSE it was gun free.
DeleteThat's not my claim. The "gun free" aspect certainly worked in his favor, though.
Slippery weasel prevarication. When you presented the Columbine shooter quote, that's obviously what you meant.
DeleteWhen you presented the Columbine shooter quote, that's obviously what you meant.
DeleteWrong. My point was "obviously" that when he said, "Ultimately, 'a school is no place for a gun,'" he was heartily in agreement with Flying Junior's "Schools must remain gun free zones."
The one segment of the population that is known historically for its irresponsible behavior and you gun loons want to arm them? Figures, gun loons are pretty stupid.
ReplyDelete