Kort Explores conundrums of the human condition

Polly Przybyl, 36, lived in Lockport, New York. She'd been married to Lee for 17 years and had 2 children aged 10 and 11. There were allegations that Lee beat her, and on August 12, 1994 Polly left her husband. Polly and her 2 children headed for her mother Gloria's home, stopping overnight in a motel. Polly had a pistol permit and a federal firearms license, and took a handgun with her for self defense.

While Polly was in route, Lee called his mother-in-law's home and told Polly's sister Mindy he was carrying one of Polly's handguns. New York has some of the most restrictive gun control laws in the nation. Lee was prohibited by various laws from carrying a handgun. However, in reality, the fact that he was violating various firearm laws did nothing to inhibit Lee from illegally acquiring and carrying a handgun.

Polly and her children arrived at her mother Gloria's Cheektowaga, New York, home on August 14. Within minutes of her arrival, Lee appeared and attempted to get into the home. The women called 911 for help, and Polly told the operator: "I left my husband Friday and he's found out where I am, and he's trying to break into the house. I'm almost positive he's armed but I have a licensed pistol - send someone right away."

When the police arrived on the scene, their primary action was to disarmed Polly. Polly did not willingly surrender her legally licensed handgun. Polly told the authorities: "I can't believe you want to take away my guns ... I have the legal right to protect myself and my children..." According to the police department's own report Polly's gun was "confiscated".

Note that Polly had not committed any crime. Her handgun was completely legal and she had a demonstrative need for self defense. She had made every effort to remove herself from the situation. She had 2 witnesses that her husband had threatened her safety, followed her across the state, had tried to force entry into the home of a third party in order to attack her, and had been discouraged in his attack by the presence of Polly's handgun.

Her only "crime" was to ask the police for help and admit that she thought she had the right to defend herself and her children. In the view of the New York police and courts, the crime of self defense was far more objectionable than the violent aggression of Lee. Polly was the only one punished in the event - her property was confiscated by the police who she'd called for help, and her rights were denied. Lee, the direct cause of the problem and actually carrying an illegal firearm, was not disarmed or meaningfully restrained in any way.

Polly was told to rely on the police and courts for protection. On August 16th, two days after the police confiscated her legal handgun, Polly was granted a court order of protection requiring Lee to stay at least 500 yards away from her. But in spite of his violent history, Lee still had child visitation rights.

On August 22 during a child visitation, knowing that the police had confiscated Polly's handgun, Lee attacked Polly in the backyard with a knife. As any child knows, a knife cuts paper, and Polly's court order of protection was in reality only as protective as the paper on which it was written. That paper protection did nothing to stop Lee's knife from slicing through Polly's aorta.

According to Polly's daughter who was by then also in the backyard, when her 10 year old brother heard noises and came to investigate, Lee picked up the boy by the throat and tossed him through the air. Gloria also came to investigate. Lee grabbed a rifle and shot her dead. He then shot the mortally wounded Polly twice in the head.

Ten days after the police confiscated their means of self-defense, Polly and her mother were dead. However, having required the two women to rely on them as the sole protection of their lives, the police do not accept any liability for their failure to supply that protection.

The government in New York takes every opportunity to deny its citizens the right to bear arms in self defense. There is currently an aggressive effort to impose similar laws at the federal level. But the Police are not bodyguards, and are physically incapable of supplying meaningful "before the fact" protection to all citizens and their property. There is typically only one police officer on patrol for every 3,200 citizens. And the police have repeatedly proven in litigation that they have no legal obligation to protect the lives and property of citizens. The police are only there to enforce the law after the fact.

Women are four times more likely than men to be attacked by relatives. But 69% of violent crimes involving non-strangers do not involve guns. Under such conditions, an armed woman can effectively defend herself against a physically stronger unarmed man. And women do protect themselves. In 1992, there were 3,184,440 reported self-protective measures taken by women in response to violent crime. Perhaps even more important, according to Justice Department reports, 59.8% of people who reported using self-defense in response to violent crime reported that it helped the situation.