A few years ago, Ken Paulson's daughter, Jennifer, was killed by a guy that had been stalking her for years. The only good news is, the douche that killed her was himself later killed by Sheriff's Deputies.
Now, like most family members who have suffered a horrible loss, Mr. Paulson has been working within the system to make sure no one else has to go through this type of pain, an honorable undertaking. This current legislative session, it's looking like we might actually see a bill passed that would allow for the creation of a 'Stalking Protective Order', which would be closer to what victims of Domestic Abuse get than just your basic civil 'Anti-Harassment Protective Order'.
Oh boy..three pieces of paper that still don't protect people.
Even one of the bills sponsor's almost gets it.
“Anti-harassment orders aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on,” said Rep. Roger Goodman, D-Kirkland, who sponsored the House version of the bill, House Bill 1383.
The problem is, he said that in support of his bill, indicating that he thinks the 'Stalking Protective Order' would maybe be worth the paper it's printed on.
The article is kind of light on details of how this bill will protect people better. The only two things it really talks about is making stalking an aggravating factor in sentencing, and it might give judges the authority to make folks wear a tracking bracelet. But...unless you are going to put a tracking bracelet on the person being stalked also, and it alarms if the two bracelets are within 100 yards...it's still not going to PROTECT the person.
Oh...it will make easier for police to track and punish the bad guy, and easier to sentence them to longer jail terms...but in the end, it's not going to make these people any safer.
I understand why the dad is doing it...and I hope this gives him the closure he needs....I just hope that 3 years from now there isn't another young lady who thinks this piece of paper will keep her any safer than any other piece of paper.
I can only imagine that some men think arming their daughters is a bad idea. And, some of them are even possibly right. While I think every able bodied man and woman of sound mind should have at least one firearm, preferably a pistol which they can take with them, not everybody is of sound enough mind or emotional reasoning. Some people simply put shouldn't have guns, and I do think many young women are among these. (If I will add that poor parenting is quite often the leading factor in that immaturity.)
ReplyDeleteIt's sort of a catch 22 though. On one hand you have people too irresponsible to protect themselves, on the other it seems everyone else is faced with a push for a police state to protect those unwilling or unable to do protect themselves. The Supreme Court has made it clear that it is NOT the job of police agencies to protect anyone.
For me it comes down to much more self-reliance. Even if a police state is developed, it has never shown a capacity, or interest, in doing what many people think it will do once developed, that is make them safer. Some people simply are going to lose in life. Those least able or willing to choose otherwise are going to remain prime targets. Sad, but not worth my freedoms or rights.