Rape deterrence and concealed carry reform

According to the Akron Beacon-Journal, Tallmadge police are investigating a Friday morning rape.

A woman said she was walking in the area of Arlington and East Exchange streets in Akron when a man in a light blue minivan offered her a ride. The woman told police the man then took out a stun gun and gave her a jolt on her right side.

She told police he drove her to a parking lot in the 600 block of Newton Street, where he raped her. She said he then kicked her out of the car and left.

The man is described as white with short light brown hair. He is heavy-set and about 40 years old. He told the woman that his name was John.

The woman was treated at St. Thomas Hospital.

Commentary by Chad D. Baus:
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.

Every day that Ohio's Republican leadership waits to pass concealed carry reform increases the defenseless victim list in our state, and forces otherwise law-abiding citizens into making a choice between facing felony arrest or being unable to defend themselves. This simply should not be.