Four and a half years ago, in a small town in Connecticut, a home invasion resulted in the brutal rape, and senseless murders of a mother, and her two daughters, aged 17 and 11.
Those heinous crimes have remained in the news, while the two assailants were brought to trial, and were convicted, and now face the death penalty.
At the time of the Petit family tragedy, a bill to do away with the death penalty in Connecticut had passed in the legislature and was awaiting the Governor's signature. This one horrific event caused the Governor to veto the bill.
It long seemed to many, myself included, that the Petit family home invasion was a unique happening, a rarity. And, for a while, I shared with many a naive belief that the swift justice effected in this case, and the attendant publicity, would serve as a deterrent to home invasions.
But the reality is that home invasions are on the rise. Some homes, and some families are too easy a target for the criminally intent to resist. Forcibly entering and robbing a home is bad enough, but in all-too-many cases, sexual assault and murder are part of the crime spree.
In the last ten days, two crimes, more than a thousand miles apart, have brought gun control into the conversation about home invasions.
On New Year's Eve, in Oklahome, an 18-year old girl, and her three-month old baby were home alone. She was grieving the loss of her husband, who had succumbed to cancer on Christmas Day.
An intruder, somehow aware of her situation, tried to gain entrance, and eventually set about breaking down the front door. When he had succeeded, he entered the house with a knife in his hand.
The girl retrieved her husband's gun, and shot the intruder dead before he could reach her. An accomplice waiting outside was subsequently captured.
Without the gun, this 18-year old mother, and her baby, would have been at the mercy of two assailants.
Last Friday morning, in Lake Butler--a small town near where I live in north Florida--two men forced their way into a home where they murdered a 69-year old husband, and sexually assaulted his 39-year old wife.
The intruders, who have since been captured, had a gun. The couple they killed and assaulted did not.
Controlling guns is a good thing. Prohibiting guns is not.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Agreed that having a total ban on gun ownership would be unwise in a country where a wild west mentality still prevails. Gun ownership, on the other hand, may have disastrous consequences for the owner, if the gun is taken away by the criminal and used against him.
ReplyDelete