by Cynthia Anne Walker
A lovely, heartwarming story appeared on page A3 of Tuesday's Gilroy, CA Dispatch. A San Juan Bautista woman shot and wounded her ex-boyfriend, James Bret Fleming, last week as he tried to break into her house, waving a machete and threatening to kill her.
The article provided some background information. In 1994, when the woman was pregnant with Fleming's child, Fleming shot her with a shotgun during an argument. He was imprisoned for the shooting and was released several months ago.
Notice the timing here: Fleming was arrested in 1994. I know from personal experience that it takes the justice system four to eight months to convict a mere weenie wagger. So let's assume that Fleming was sentenced in early '95. He was released "several" months ago, say early '97. That means he served about two years, maybe two and a half, for shooting his pregnant girlfriend. Two and a half years for attempted double murder. Some deterrence.
How much time will he serve for waving a machete at her, even, one hopes, ith enhancements for parole violation? As a matter of fact, the article states that he "was booked on suspicion of burglary, illegal entry, brandishing a weapon, and violating a restraining order," not for repeat attempted murder.
Of course, one also hopes that he has learned his lesson. One hopes that he will never again try to kill her or anyone else. One hopes that he will now reform and become a fine upstanding citizen and a pillar of the community.
One hopes for the best and prepares for the worst. The San Juan Bautista lady should go out immediately and buy a bigger caliber firearm. A .22 is fine for hunting squirrels, but I recommend a twelve gauge shotgun for human predators.
She should go immediately because California has a fifteen day waiting period for the purchase of firearms. If the case against Fleming is dismissed on some technicality, he could be on the street, or on her doorstep, tomorrow.
As far as I know, no studies have been done on how many Californians have been murdered during their waiting periods. However, two women have been killed by estranged boyfriends during the five day period mandated by the Brady Bill.
The avowed purpose of the Brady Bill is to keep firearms out of the wrong ands. It doesn't work, of course. California has a fifteen day waiting period and the highest murder and violent crime rates in the union. Prior to the Brady Bill's passage, only 7% of career criminals obtained their firearms from the licensed gun shops the Bill affects. Even anti-gun researcher David McDowell concluded that "waiting periods have no influence on either gun homicides or gun suicides."
On the other hand, firearms ownership by citizens is extremely effective in reducing crime.
For example, in Orlando, Florida, in 1966, police instituted a well-publicized firearms training program in which 6,000 women participated. In 1968, Orlando was the only US city of 100,000 population to report a drop in violent crime. Aggravated assault decreased 25%, burglary 24%, and rape by a stunning 90%.
In Highland Park, Michigan, following eighty robberies in a four month period, police gave firearms training to retail store owners in a highly publicized program. There were zero armed robberies in the four months after the program.
In Detroit, a grocers' association carried on such a program, over the protests of the police chief. Publicity consisted, first, of the police chief's denunciations, and later, of news stories of seven robbers being shot by grocers. Grocery robberies dropped 90%.
More recently, between 1987, when Florida passed its right to carry law, and 1994, the state's homicide rate dropped 27% and its firearm homicide rate dropped 34%. Meanwhile the US rates have risen 8% and 28% respectively.
So congratulations and thanks to that nameless woman in San
Juan Bautista who made her community and mine a safer place last
Friday.
This is Cynthia's first submission to the WFN. We are looking forward to more of her writing here.