[02:31.88]I was almost home when another car nearly hit mine head-on.With the speed of a New York cabbie,
[02:41.75]I rolled down my window and screamed curses as the driver passed.He instantly made a U-turn,
[02:51.05]almost climbing on my back bumper.By now,he and his two friends were hanging out of the car windows,
[03:00.19]yelling that they were going to rape,cut and kill me.
[03:05.81]5 I already had turned into our driveway when I realized my husband wasn't home.I was trapped.
[03:14.46]The car had pulled in behind me.I drove up to the back porch and got unto the kitchen,
[03:21.85]where our dogs stood waiting for me.The three men spilled out of their car and into our yard.
[03:29.97]6 My heart was pumping.I grabbed the collars of Jack,our 200-pound Irish wolfhound,
[03:38.23]and his 140-pound malamute buddy,Slush.Then I kicked open the back door—
[03:46.80]I was so scared that I became aggressive--and actually dared the three creeps to keep coming.With the dogs,
[03:56.51]the odds had changed in my favor,and the men ran back to the safety of their car,
[04:03.12]yelling that they'd be back the next day to blow me away.Fortunately,they never returned.
[04:11.61]7 A few years and one divorce later,I headed for Los Angeles with my 3-year-old son,
[04:18.98]Jordan(the dogs had since departed).When I put him in preschool a few weeks later,
[04:27.68]the headmistress noted that I was a single parent and immediately warned me that there was a rapist in my new neighborhood.
[04:37.26]8 I called the police,who confirmed this fact.The rapist followed no particular pattern.
[04:44.97]Sometimes he would be waiting in his victim's house,other times he would break in while the person was asleep.
[04:53.38]Although it was summer,I would carefully lock my windows at night and then lie there and sweat in fear.
[05:02.00]Thankfully,the rapist was caught,but not before he had attacked two more women.
[05:09.00]9 Soon the papers were telling yet another tale of senseless horror.Richard Bamirez,who became know as"The Walk-In Killer"
[05:19.61]spent months crippling and killing before he was caught.(2)His alleged crimes were so brutal,
[05:29.04]his desire to inflict pain so intense,that I began to question my beliefs about not taking human life under any circumstances.
[05:40.38]The thought of taking a human life disgusts me,but the idea of being someone's victim is worse.
[05:49.41]And how,I began to ask myself,do you talk pacifism to a murderer or a rapist?
[05:57.43]10 Finally,I decided that I would defend myself,even if it meant killing another person.
[06:05.35](3)I realized that the one-sided pacifism I once so strongly had advocated could backfire on me and worse,on my son.
[06:17.39]Reluctantly,I concluded that I had to insure the best option for our survival.
[06:25.52]May choices:to count on a cop or to own a pistol.
[06:32.33]11 I called a man I had met a while ago who,I remembered,owned several guns.
[06:38.60]He told me he had a Smith & Wesson 38 Special for sale and recommended it,
[06:45.79]since it was small enough for me to handle yet had the necessary stopping power.
[06:52.71]12 I bought the gun.That same day,I got six rounds of special ammunition with plastic tips that explode on impact.
[07:04.41]These are not for target practice;these are for  protection.
[07:10.37]13 For about$50,I also picked up a metal safety box.Its push-button lock opens with a touch
[07:19.61]if you know the proper combination,possibly taking only a second or two
[07:25.70]longer than it does to reach into a night-table drawer.Now I knew that my son,
[07:33.77]Jordan,couldn't get his hands on it while I still could.
[07:38.63]14 When I brought the gun home,Jordan was fascinated by it.He kept picking it up,while I nervously watched.
[07:48.17]But knowledge,I believe,is still our greatest defense.And since I'm in favor of education for sex,
[07:57.02]AIDS and learning to drive,I couldn't draw the line at teaching my son about guns.
[08:04.28]15 Next,I took the pistol and my son to the target range.I rented a 22-caliber pistol for Jordan.
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