1980 πŸ”« Rape is not OK

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1980 πŸ”« Rape is not OK.png
1980 πŸ”« Rape is not OK.png
The time I stopped a rape

I happened to be hunting in the woods near the house where I grew up (very rural Orange County - Santiago hills). Technically, I wasn't officially "hunting", but I did take a gun with me a lot when hiking, because "you never know". And I'd been followed by a pack of Coyote's during a bad season once (which is very abnormal -- they don't usually pack, and they don't usually get near humans), and I'd shoot targets of opportunity: rabbit, dove, quail or rattlesnake. All of which were pretty tasty (and the latter made nice belts or hat bands).

One day I was minding my own business, when I heard screams. I ran onto a scene where some guy had driven rather far out a dirt trail (a few miles) and had torn the top off some woman and was progressing towards rape when I said in a rather loud voice, "is there a problem here?!" He saw the .22 rifle, and decided that it was time for him to leave the scene. He said "no problem", and with one motion, used his leg to push her out of the car, started the car, and drove off. (It was a bench seat). She landed in a stunned pile on the side of the trail.

I didn't escalate anything, and wasn't pointing the gun in a threatening manner. Just the fact that the tool of equalization was there, meant that once again the strong could not abuse the weak with impunity.

I gave her my jacket to cover up (her top was destroyed), partly to stop the other kid I was with from staring at her boobs. While the guy managed to get the car stuck in a ditch climbing a modest dirt trail. He got out and walked. She was mumbling that was her car, but I walked back a different way to where I had parked my own, and I drove her the few miles to a gas station to call a tow truck (so they could get her car out, which was stuck out in the creek).

Along the drive back, we passed the guy. She was telling me how she knew him for most of her life, and that, "her Dad was going to kill him, when he found out", and other drama that was well beyond my caring. So we pass him, and she's frantic telling me to stop the car, so she can go confront him. I pulled over, but explained, "this was not a good idea". She ignored the advice and walked back to yell at him, with hands waiving and explaining how her Dad was going to thrash him. And he gave her one back-handed slap that dropped her (I was still in the car). He kept walking past... while she got up, climbed back into the car without saying a word, and I drove her to the gas station in silence while she pouted and massaged her face along the way.

Conclusion

I let her handle the legal aspects of pressing charges, but I'm not sure she ever pressed charges (then never contacted me). But that really isn't the point -- if a gun had not been there, then another crime would have been committed, and things probably would have been much worse.

The fact is the guns are equalizers and are the most effective tool for the physically weak to resist the physically strong. I've studied Martial Arts, and have used other weapons (like pepper spray, knives, sticks and so on) -- but guns are far more effective. Without the right to own guns (by law abiding citizens), society turns inward and allows more crime (out of fear of getting involved).

Would I have trotted up on a situation without a gun? Yeah, probably. And I had some martial arts training, and would have had a hunting knife, so it probably would have ended similar. But who knows? Since he was a very large guy, and I was only a scrawny late teen, I'm not sure what would have happened if the gun hadn't have been present. The woman was pretty convinced of what was going to happen -- and was very thankful for me, and the gun, showing up. And there are still very obvious risks of getting involved whether you have a gun or not -- but at least the bullies can't abuse the weak with complete impunity.

When seconds count, the police are 30 minutes away. So if you'd rather empower civilians to stop crimes, rather than having them play Switzerland about everything ("not my problem"), then then allowing guns is the best way to do that. The founding fathers felt we needed to allow the weak to have guns, to defend themselves against the strong, for good reasons.

Pulling a gun : Air Rifles β€’ Getting my CCW β€’ Pulling a gun β€’ What’s shooting like? β€’