Gone, but not forgotten...

"Personally? I would love to see one of these pervs come up on a woman who was carrying, trained and prepared. Then I would like to see the perv smoked."

This is a topic which I have not addressed before. And it is high time that I should. As the father of two girls (now adult women), this was always a fear of mine. That someone, when one of them was outside of my protection, would do something horrible to them. Why would I think that? As much as I hate to say it, this type of thing happens much, much too often. The lucky ones get away with just being sexually accosted. The unlucky ones never get away.

A beautiful young lady was recently found murdered in Iowa. A 20 year old college student. Her crime? She went out jogging by herself. Some sick, twisted, pervert came across her and looked upon her as nothing more than a target of opportunity. What exactly happened, nobody knows - yet. That is, except the perv who ended this young life. If he is never caught, it will be up to the forensic scientists to piece as much of this puzzle together as possible.

Just like another young, beautiful women who went missing in Iowa, Jodi Huisentruit also did not have to die. But after missing for 6 years, her family had her declared dead. Police believe she was taken against her will. How do they know? There were signs of a struggle by her car the morning she disappeared. But they found no Jodi. No suspect. No clue. Only the heartache of the loss. 

Here is my rant. EVERY women should consider herself a target of opportunity. That sounded very harsh, but it is true. 90 plus percent of the men who cross a woman's path would never cause harm to them. But - there is that small fraction of the population who are sick beyond measure. And if a woman is confronted by one of them, she better have some means of protection. Some kind of self defense. 

What kind of self defense? My favorite of course of all women, would be to have a carry permit. Then along with that permit, a very small, easy to carry (and conceal) handgun. The downside? In Minnesota, the use of lethal force can be legally very risky.

So, there are a multitude of excellent non-lethal substitutes. I am talking not only about the stun gun (some as small as a tube of lipstick), but also key chains which look like a cat's head (the ears are the weapon), whistles, and the modern pepper spray, which will bring most big men to their knees. Beyond these, are a multitude of others. 

But for crying out loud, have something! Take a simple self defense class (they are offered all over the place), and learn some techniques, just to help you get away if held. Don't worry about hurting an attacker - that person wants to hurt (or worse) you! The predators are more animal than human, so worry not about inflicting pain on them. Every ounce of pain they receive, they deserve ten fold or more. 

Personally? I would love to see one of these pervs come up on a woman who was carrying, trained and prepared. Then I would like to see the perv smoked. Harsh? Sorry. It is going to take a few of these guys getting smoked for the word to get out. Woman are no longer an easy target. Coming up on a woman for evil reasons might end up being the last thing a perv does. They will get the message. 

For the family and friends of Mollie, it is time to grieve. For the rest of us, we cannot let Mollie's untimely death go without taking something positive away from it. If nothing else, if a handful more of woman learn how not to be easy targets by practicing self defense, that would help make some sense of this needless tragedy.