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left: In the past 20 or so<br />
years, the application for<br />
a concealed carry permit<br />
has proven, for many law<br />
abiding citizens, the portal<br />
to a lack of fear of violent<br />
assault from criminals.<br />
right: The Dru Sjodin Sex<br />
Offender Public Website<br />
is named in memory of a<br />
young woman who was<br />
raped and murdered; it<br />
was what allowed author<br />
Burton to discover a<br />
perpetrator’s history of<br />
rape and enabled her to<br />
send him back to prison.<br />
©iSTOCKPHOTO - COSINT<br />
My son’s 17-year-old friend was<br />
raped. In the aftermath, because this<br />
was someone for whom I cared, I dedicated<br />
myself to helping the police find<br />
these people and seeing them arrested,<br />
and also finding witnesses who could<br />
testify. There were three offenders involved.<br />
I went online and found that<br />
one of these people was already a Level<br />
3 sex offender with two convictions for<br />
child rape. While I wasn’t able to get<br />
enough evidence to get him arrested, I<br />
was able to go to the parole board with<br />
my evidence and have his parole revoked.<br />
He went back to prison. While<br />
we couldn’t nail him for the new rape,<br />
we could indeed see that he went back<br />
to prison to finish out his sentence for<br />
the previous child rape. I felt very happy<br />
because shortly after he was arrested<br />
he temporarily escaped and was recaptured<br />
soon afterward which added<br />
several more years to his sentence. I<br />
thought to myself, “Thank you, stupid<br />
person, for actually adding more time<br />
to your prison term.”<br />
Now I find myself in a situation where<br />
there is a very real, statistically more<br />
probable likelihood that I might be attacked.<br />
Though I managed to get one of<br />
the rapists put away, there are two more<br />
of them out there. It is very likely they<br />
know who I am, and that I am the one<br />
who landed their fellow rapist in jail.<br />
I’m thinking they are probably somewhat<br />
irritated by that. I still know the<br />
victim, and they certainly know her and<br />
where she lives. She spends time at my<br />
house. All it would take for them to find<br />
me would be to follow her. For a while<br />
after the attack, she actually lived with<br />
me, though she has now moved into an<br />
apartment across town. I found her an<br />
unarmed-self-defense instructor. If she<br />
were actually old enough to own a gun<br />
I would teach her to shoot; however,<br />
she is not. She wants a handgun and<br />
concealed carry permit the instant she<br />
turns 21. I don’t blame her.<br />
As I write this, it occurs to me this<br />
would be an excellent time to teach her<br />
to shoot. A few years lead time to build<br />
up her skill level before owning and carrying<br />
a gun would certainly be an excellent<br />
idea. Being skilled with any weapon<br />
you carry is just a highly desirable thing<br />
for anyone who really cares about their<br />
own safety.<br />
While visiting the corrections department<br />
(during which I told them that I<br />
was going to dedicate myself to helping<br />
put a multiple child rapist back<br />
behind bars), one of the women<br />
working there did not want me<br />
to leave the building until I had<br />
done the paperwork to renew<br />
my carry permit. It was not her<br />
job to do this, but she went<br />
and found the paperwork herself<br />
and asked someone from<br />
another department to come<br />
and take my fingerprints<br />
right then and there (it took<br />
her less than five minutes<br />
to drag someone over to do<br />
them). Then she personally<br />
found an ATM for me to withdraw cash<br />
for the fee. It was profoundly frightening<br />
to have someone in corrections so<br />
concerned that I have a carry permit<br />
again as fast as possible.<br />
In the near future I am going to be doing<br />
much experimentation on the best<br />
way to carry and conceal a Glock 19. As<br />
I sit here typing this, I am expecting a<br />
shipment from Galco in the next few<br />
days containing six different holsters: a<br />
thigh holster, two belly bands, a fanny<br />
pack and two different holster purses.<br />
Stay tuned to hear what I learn from the<br />
upcoming experimentation. H<br />
Florida has been the role model<br />
for other states passing shall-issue<br />
concealed carry permits (sample permit<br />
shown, law allowing same passed in<br />
1988) though Washington state where<br />
Burton lives has had a shall-issue<br />
concealed carry permit system in place<br />
since 1965.<br />
MAY/JUNE 2011 n CONCEALED CARRY MAGAZINE n <strong>US</strong>CONCEALEDCARRY.COM<br />
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