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Alaskan Crime Victims On Their Own PDF Print E-mail
Written by Daniel White   
Friday, 11 November 2005

Story written by Tom McNaughton

KOTZEBUE, Alaska — Susan Jones knew she had to leave her remote southeast Alaska village when she came home to find her husband clutching his loaded rifle.

In his other hand, she said, was the crumpled restraining order she had filed against him a day earlier after he sent several bullets whining past her head.

"He just had it bunched in his hand and it clearly didn't mean anything at all," Jones said.

Many crime victims in rural Alaska face the same predicaments Jones was confronted with as a victim of domestic abuse: weak law enforcement, lack of anonymity in sparsely populated communities and no easy way to escape the state's isolated bush communities.

Fortunately for women like Susan Jones, Alaska has a law that allows anyone who may legally possess a firearm can carry it concealed without having to obtain a special permit if 21 years of age or older. Battered women may learn tragically that restraining orders don’t offer much restraint to abusive husbands.
As she related he experience with her ex-husband, Jones said: "That piece of paper's not bulletproof."

(Click 'READ MORE' to continue...)

Ohio women fleeing abusive husbands may find themselves in an entirely different situation. Although our state law allows for sheriffs to issue such a woman a Temporary Emergency Concealed Carry Handgun License, yet the restrictions attached to the application don’t necessarily make it an easy task. The application warns:
This application will not be processed unless all applicable questions have been answered and until all required supporting documents as described in division (B)(1)(a) and (b) of Section 2923.1213 of the Ohio Revised Code have been provided and, unless waived, cash, cashier’s check, or money order in the amount of the applicable license fee have been submitted. FEES ARE NONREFUNDABLE.

Of course, by the time all the questions have been answered and all the documents have been provided, the applicant’s husband may have already found her. Then she might not need to have her fees refunded….ever.

Perhaps that explains why in 2004 only 65 Temporary Emergency Licenses were issued (with five denied!), and so far in 2005 only 54 have been issued (with four denied!). It seems hard to imagine only 129 battered spouses have sought to protect themselves with a firearm and an emergency license in the past year and a half since our concealed carry law has been in effect. Let us hope nothing really bad happened to the nine persons who were denied such licenses.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the state of Ohio could trust and care for its citizens as much as the state of Alaska trusts and cares for its own?

Click here to read the full article.