Port Clinton rapist prompts ''Safety Awareness Rally''

February 16, 2004
Port Clinton News Herald (click for the full story)

PORT CLINTON -- Many women across the city are worried and fearful of the unidentified Port Clinton rapist, who has broken into homes and attacked victims twice over the past month.

In response, organizers are planning a "Safety Awareness Rally" Tuesday night with local law enforcement officials to try to empower the public.

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"We feel helpless. And how do we not feel helpless?" City Council President Linda Hartlaub said. "There is safety in numbers. And there is power in information.

"They're going to talk about the current situation. They're going to try to straighten out facts from rumors. They're going to give us tips to try to protect ourselves. And they're going to take questions and answers."

The rally will take place at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Port Clinton Performing Arts Center. Police Chief Thomas Blohm is expected to attend, along with Ottawa County Prosecutor Mark Mulligan, officials from the Ottawa County Sheriff's Office, and Ralph Edmonds, the city police officer stationed inside the high school.

Hartlaub and Chris Galvin, who heads United Way of Ottawa County, came up with the rally idea while brainstorming over lunch Tuesday. The event is expected to last about an hour, and all are invited to attend.

Commentary:
It is maddening to watch the Ohio's Crime Clock ticks another few rapes higher. It is estimated that 157 rapes could have been prevented had Ohio HB12 not been delayed past June 2003.

This story highlights yet another reason of why the Ohio Attorney General's office has a responsibility to expedite the implementation of Ohio's new concealed handgun carry licensure system.

When it first became evident that a sexual predator and serial killer was on the loose in Lousiana, that state's Governor did the right thing: he told women to exercise their right to self-defense. Will the truth about the best methods for deterring a rapist, and exercising the human right of self-defense, be told at this "Safety Awareness Rally"?

Just in case it isn't, we thought we'd offer a little OFCC awareness event of our own - but ours would be more aptly titled the "Rape Prevention Rally".

Click on the "Read More..." link below for the OFCC Rape Prevention Rally.

According to federal crime statistics, Columbus has the highest rate of reported rapes among the largest U.S. cities. And Columbus is no standout among Ohio cities. Rates of reporting are higher in Cleveland, Cincinnati and Dayton!

Raw data from the Justice Department’s annual National Crime Victim Survey show that when a woman resists a “stranger rape” with a gun, the probability of completion was 0.1% and of victim injury 0.1%, compared to 31% and 40% respectively, for all stranger rapes.

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For all rapes, woman who resisted with a gun were 2.5 times more likely to escape without injury than those who did not resist, and 4 times more likely to escape uninjured than those who resisted with any means other than a gun.” (Southwick, Journal of Criminal Justice, 2000)

A Dept. of Justice survey found that 40% of felons chose not to commit at least some crimes for fear their victims were armed, and 34% admitted having been scared off or shot at by armed victims. (James D. Wright and Peter H. Rossi, Armed and Considered Dangerous, Aldine de Gruyter, 1986)

Not all women must choose to carry a concealed firearm to benefit from the reformation of Ohio's self-defense laws.

In 1966 the police in Orlando, Florida, responded to a rape epidemic by embarking on a highly publicized program to train 2,500 women in firearm use. The next year rape fell by 88 percent in Orlando (the only major city to experience a decrease that year); burglary fell by 25 percent. Not one of the 2,500 women actually ended up firing her weapon; the deterrent effect of the publicity sufficed." (Congressional Record, 90th Cong., 2d sess., January 30, 1968, p. 1496, n. 7) Five years later Orlando's rape rate was
still 13 percent below the pre-program level, whereas the surrounding standard metropolitan area had suffered a 308 percent increase.

According to the 2003 National Crime Victimization Survey, 93% of violent crimes against innocent citizens last year were carried out without the criminal use of a firearm. 96% of rapes and 75% of robberies were committed by criminals without firearms. So why is the anti-gunners' answer to violence is to make it more difficult for law-abiding citizens to obtain firearms, or the right to bear them for self-defense?

If their real goal was to prevent violent crime, groups like the Million Mom March-Brady Campaign-Handgun Control Inc. (it's easier to call them the Brady Bunch) would be fighting for the right to choose armed self-defense instead of spending all their time, money and effort preventing the 4% of rapes in which a firearm was misused.

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Gun permit applicants increasingly are women

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