Tighter 'Hero' Control

As details of the Seattle Jewish Federation attack emerged — despite minimal national coverage — anyone with a heart was struck by the story of Dayna Klein who took a bullet through the arm while protecting her unborn child.

Unbowed by her ordeal, this quick thinking, strong-willed woman has now carved out a "cause" for herself.

But instead of demanding greater surveillance of mosques or championing the death penalty for terrorists, disappointingly — though predictably — Mrs. Klein is calling for "tighter gun control."

Unfortunately, she cannot accept the reality — that Naveed Afzal Haq shot her because she's Jewish — and has opted for the path of least resistance: wounded mother crusades against faceless — and irreligious — enemy. Guns.

After seeing her on the Today Show, I should have known it wouldn't be the last we heard from Dayna Klein. The attraction of the spotlight and the lure of some imagined moral authority was too great to resist.

What we really need is a program to help victims through the difficult process of physical and emotional recovery by advising them that being shot does not make them experts on Constitutional law or even sensible public policy. And for goodness sake, to stop them from being whisked away to "meetings" with former President Bill Clinton.

In a news conference, Klein said she wants to know why the man who invaded the Jewish Federation was able to purchase guns from shops just before the shootings. The answer is that we cannot yet reliably predict the future. Haq had broken no laws and waited the required 5-day period between purchasing and picking up his guns — hardly the impulse "just before the shootings" implies. This capricious question — not to mention her use of the terms "man" and "invaded" instead of "Islamofascist scum" and "attacked" — clearly demonstrates this woman is not thinking straight.

I'm not unsympathetic to her situation. My wife is pregnant with our first child and, as much as I'd like to, I can't be with her every second of the day. But instead of "workplace safety" or "How to Dial 911 with a Gun Pointed at Your Head" classes, we opted for a more proactive solution — a concealed carry permit and a snub-nosed revolver.

Instead of American Red Cross training that taught Mrs. Klein how to take a deep breath and dial a phone, she could have taken NRA handgun training teaching her to put two in the chest and one in the head. Just think: she could have been a super hero by dispatching Mr. Haq before police even arrived.

Whether or not to exercise her right to self-defense is Mrs. Klein's choice. However, since she is not interested in the fate of the Muslim terrorist who shot her — saying he has wasted enough of her time — she should do us a favor and not waste our time with delusions about a "safer society" free of guns. The so-called 'million moms' have marched down that road before. And it leads nowhere.

Proverbs says if you don't discipline your kids, you hate your kids. I say the same goes for husbands that don't buy guns for their pregnant wives. If Mrs. Klein wants to make a positive change in pursuit of perfecting the world, she should start by advocating no-fee concealed carry permits and handgun discounts for pregnant women.

Link: "Hero" turns focus to gun control

Previously: An Act of Terror in Seattle