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A Denver woman was shot in the head by her husband on Monday night. What makes this so much more awful is that she was on the phone to 911, waiting for the police to come help her. She waited for 13 minutes, and the last sound the operator heard was that of a gunshot. Help didn’t come in time; when the police arrived, they found Kristine Kirk dead on the floor. The incident leaves three children with a dead mother—one of whom witnessed her death—and a father charged with first degree murder.
This story is awful on so many levels, but it underlines some very basic points that gun control advocates love to ignore.
1) If someone is intent on committing violence, they will commit that violence whether they have a gun or not, whether it’s locked up or not, whether it’s loaded or not. When Kirk first called 911, she said her husband was hallucinating and asking her to shoot him; their gun was locked in a safe at that time. During what must have seemed like an eternally long phone call to Kirstine Kirk, her husband got the gun out of the safe and shot her in the head with it. In short, having the gun in a safe didn’t stop her from dying. Would she be dead if the Kirks didn’t own a firearm? The short answer is yes, she probably would be—just by a different method.
2) You cannot assume that the police will come, or even that they’ll help you when they show up. Kristine Kirk waited for 13 minutes, and that waiting cost her life. What if she would have had a gun of her own? What if there was a pistol in her purse? What if she had had a way to defend herself? She might still be alive. Instead, she “stayed on the line” and died for it in front of her child.
The police were sent to the home at 2132. They walked in and found her dead at 2158.
“Anytime a person dies while communicating with Denver’s emergency services, we examine the circumstances to ensure that the incident was handled properly and we look for areas to improve upon,” police spokesman Sonny Jackson said.
Nice words. Too bad they won’t help Kristine Kirk or her children.
Merle says: When seconds count the police are only minutes away!
Merle
GWB says: I think this one might be a bad example for the points you’re making, Kit. 🙁
First, she *did* have a gun available. She just didn’t get to it before he did. She wasn’t restricted from having a gun because of the law, it appears, but because she relied (as many women do) on her husband filling the role of protector. When her chosen guardian lost his balance….
Second, I doubt a second gun in her hand would have made a difference. She had already decided not to shoot her husband when he was asking her to. I’m guessing she would have found it impossible to pull the trigger on him at any point, hoping beyond hope that he wouldn’t do what he was threatening to do.
I agree with your points, but I don’t think this is a good story to use to make them.
Interestingly, this story could be the first obvious one that can be thrown back in the face of those who say “pot is a victimless drug”. He evidently went off after ingesting edible pot. If that is determined to be true, it puts the lie to all those statements that “pot doesn’t make you violent” and “using pot doesn’t hurt anyone else.”
Xavier says: Pepper spray (police strength) – $11
Stun gun – $16
S&W 642 Airweight with Lasergrips – $550
Staying alive – Priceless
Humor aside, a threat can appear at any time. Having a few self defense tools and knowing how to use them properly can make the difference between life and death. The police exist to document what happened and arrest the perp – they do not prevent crime. That’s up to you.
A drug-crazed armed robber broke into my childhood home and took my father hostage. Dad survived but the police weren’t involved until after the incident was over hours later. When my father testified at the trial, it provoked threats against our family that continued for years, even though the robber was in prison – and the authorities could do nothing about it. So we learned to sleep with a pistol under the pillow and a long gun never more than a few steps away – habits that continue to this day.
I suppose we all want others to learn from our experiences. I don’t mean to lecture, but bad things can happen through no fault of your own. That incident was a life (and family) altering event and I wonder how our lives would have been different had we been properly armed at the time.
Stay safe.
Kodos says: “Uptown livin’, you got to call 911. Where I live, I *am* 911.”
– Phil Robertson
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