We've all heard the expression "when seconds count, police are only minutes away", but what happens when seconds count and your ability to protect yourself with a gun is on hold for weeks, months, or even years while the government bureaucracy takes its sweet time in issuing you your Second Amendment permission slip?
As the Heritage Foundation's Amy Swearer pointed out in a threat on X.com, that isn't a hypothetical situation. For one woman in the Detroit area, going through the legal process of obtaining a concealed carry license left her unable to protect herself from a violently abusive ex-boyfriend who's now been charged with abducting and sexually assaulting her.
A defenseless Detroit woman was kidnapped and raped by her abusive/stalker ex-boyfriend just one day before she was set to take her state-mandated course for a concealed carry permit. https://t.co/jZeQfzI6yL
— Amy Swearer (@AmySwearer) October 3, 2024
The details of this case are disturbing. According to authorities, Kevin Thompson II dragged the woman to his car, handcuffed her, put tape over her eyes, and then shoved her in the back seat of his car before making the 60-mile drive to his home in Toledo, Ohio. It wasn't until the victim failed to show up for her firearms training course the next day that the Detroit police were aware she'd gone missing.
Police say Thompson planned and plotted — he allegedly stalked his ex, waiting for her to finish work last weekend in downtown Detroit when he attacked.
He was trying to re-enter her life, and she made it clear she wanted nothing to do with him.
In June, he allegedly assaulted her in public. That was the final straw for her, but for him, it wasn't over — Detroit Police Assistant Chief Charles Fitzgerald outlines a timeline of violent harassment.
"He got into her building, knocked on her door, ran down the stairs, and hid," Fitzgerald said. "When she sort of came out, he chased after her."
Then, a day later, last month — Thompson allegedly broke into her car, worked his way into her trunk, and crawled out while she was driving on the Lodge. He managed to escape.
In a final act of desperation, investigators say he kidnapped and raped her but told police a different story.
"His lead-on was that he was going to take her home once it was done, and I just don’t buy that," Fitzgerald said.
When she didn't show up for a CPL class — the next day, last Saturday — Detroit police were called in.
"From the time we were notified to the time she was in custody, it was about 4.5 hours," he said.
It didn't take long for Detroit police to track down Thompson at his Toledo home, where police there and the FBI assisted in the arrest. He was casually leaving his house to get food when he was apprehended.
The victim, his ex-girlfriend inside, was rescued but emotionally traumatized.
"She is doing as well as she can be at this point," Fitzgerald said.
According to police, the woman was abducted as she was leaving work last Friday. Even if she legally owned a gun, without a concealed carry license her options of protecting herself were limited. Yes, Michigan is an open carry state, but if she had tried to openly carry a firearm into her workplace I'm sure that would have raised all kinds of questions and concerns from her employer.
In her thread, Swearer said it's "appalling" that that there's no bypass around bureaucracy in these situations, adding, "when you can't find violent stalkers, at least let victims defend themselves immediately, for crying out loud."
I agree. That's one of the benefits of a Constitutional Carry law. So long as you can legally possess a gun you can lawfully carry it, without having to wait on the bureaucracy to approve your application for a carry license.
But even in states without permitless carry, lawmakers can still take steps to make it possible for victims like this woman to quickly and legally protect themselves in public with a firearm. Just a couple of years ago Republicans in Virginia introduced a bill that would have expedited processing of concealed carry licenses and allowed legal gun owners who had taken out an order of protection to carry on an emergency basis until their application had been approved, but it was killed by the Democratic majority in committee.
This woman's horrific experience is a painful reminder of the value of such legislation. Had a similar law been in place in Michigan, the victim might have been able to fend off her abductor. Instead, while she followed the legal process of obtaining a carry license, her alleged kidnapper violated a host of criminal statutes while carrying out his plan. Thank God her absence from her concealed carry course caused enough concern for someone to contact the police and they were able to find her before she suffered any more harm, but we can and must do better to protect victims of stalking and domestic abuse... and a big part of that is helping them to protect themselves from their stalkers and abusers.
