If Jan Brewer signs it into law, it will be a significant move forward to allowing our kids to defend themselves on campus.
In 2008 a female Reno resident (who attends college in the Communist Republic of Cali) was visiting with her high school classmates and stayed at their on-campus residence at University of Nevada (UNR). She was kidnapped on 20 January from the residence, sexually abused, and murdered. On 15 February her fresh body was found in a field in south Reno, in an area of commercial establishments. It was believed she was the victim of a serial rapist who preyed upon females on the UNR campus, and that there were 3 other documented sexual assaults that pointed to a common assailant. One of these assaults was the strangulation and rape of a female UNR student inside one of the student parking structures.
My eldest daughter knew that other victim. And their vehicles were parked within 5 slots of each other. And they both got out of class at the same time that day. It could have been my daughter that was attacked.
Michael Biela, who had fled to Washington state but returned, was arrested in November 2008. DNA matched him to the kidnap, sexual assault and murder of Brianna Denison, and the sexual assault on two other UNR students. He was found guilty and sentenced to death in 2010, with four additional no-parole life sentences added for the attacks on the other victims. He remains incarcerated awaiting the outcome of the automatic appeal in the death sentence.
My daughter has since graduated from University, so I can say this now: I taught her how to shoot, and encouraged her to practice. She was not old enough at the time to get a CCW permit, which would have been worthless on campus property anyway. She drove a car registered in my name, and often had a handgun in the car with her, at my urging. Should she ever need to use it, the lesser charge of prohibited possession would be dismissed (under Nevada law) in view of the applied use of deadly force to prevent a felony from being committed (under Nevada law).
Now, my youngest daughter goes to that same school. When she was in high school she was two-time Nevada State Champion in the 2008 and 2009 Junior Olympic 3-Position Rifle Shooting Competition, taking Nevada to the Junior Olympic Nationals those two years, as well as the Navy JROTC National Shooting Competitions at Camp Perry near Port Clinton, OH, home of the Civilian Marksmanship Program. She ranked 5th nationally in the All-Services JROTC National Shooting Competition in 2009.
And she drives a car registered in my name.
A year ago a D-Sen from Las Vegas authored a bill called the Campus Protective Act that would allow CCW holders be be armed concealed on campus. It was shot down. We are urging our senators to modify it and resubmit a similar bill, but they are all concentrating on November of this year. Sigh.
