Back on October 20th, 2008, KATV anchorwoman Anne Pressly was found unconscious and severely beaten in her home. Days later, she died without ever regaining consciousness. New information has arisen in this case, showing that despite the unarmed young woman’s best efforts to defend herself, she was unable to do so.
The new information
The parents of the television anchorwoman who was beaten to death said there is evidence their daughter also was sexually assaulted, and that she broke her hand while trying to fight off her attacker. Every bone in Anne Pressly’s face was broken during the attack. The police are said to believe that the woman suffered the attack during the course of a random robbery, while others seem to believe it may have been a stalker. A man by the name of Curtis Lavelle Vance was reportedly linked to the crime by DNA evidence, and is also reportedly charged with the rape of a school teacher from April of 2008.
Lessons to be learned
This murder, and indeed all murders, is tragic. A promising young life has been cut short, and a family is in mourning. However learning from tragedies such as this are the only way that they can be prevented in the future.
1. The first lesson that I see here is that having a gun for self defense could have saved Anne Pressly’s life. Here, a physically small woman seems to have tried her very best to fight off an attacker, and even managed to break her hand in the process. But despite her commendable efforts, a physically stronger criminal was able to rob her, rape her, and beat her to death. Compare this to cases where armed women have been attacked, and the benefits of gun ownership become apparent. This woman was able to shoot the rapist who broke in to her home for a second time. This woman was able to defend herself against a home invading stalker. This 85 year old woman was able to stop a burglar in her home. This pregnant woman was able to save herself from two home invaders.
2. The second lesson that I see here is that unarmed criminals are deadly too, meaning that we wouldn’t be better off with no guns in society. Those who wish to ban guns will often erroneously suggest that gun bans will keep guns out of the hands of criminals. [This is plainly untrue because criminals don’t obey gun bans any more than they obey the laws against murder or robbery, which is why cities like Chicago and D.C. have had handgun bans yet have multiple handgun shootings just about every day.] But, for the sake of argument, lets assume that gun bans really would keep guns out of the hands of everyone, including criminals. In that hypothetical world, people like Anne Pressly would continue to be beaten to death by physically stronger criminals, as gun bans have a disproportionate effect upon the physically weaker members of society. Since violent criminals tend to be young males who are stronger than their victims, taking away “the great equalizer” would be a surefire way to help criminals and harm their victims.