Patricia Cornwell, author of the many popular crime novels featuring Dr. Kay Scarpetta, a forensic pathologist, recently published “True Crime: A Memoir.” Her autobiography is a solid read.
Ms. Cornwell’s lead character often carries a gun, and occasionally uses it to resolve dangerous situations with homicidal criminals. If I recall correctly, the first novel or one of the first in the Scarpetta series ends with the heroine shooting the bad guy with her Ruger SP-101 snub-nose .38 revolver.
In this, the character resembles the writer who created her. Here, Cornwell tells of her own early days in the criminal justice system, from which she would later draw heavily in her thrillers: “Living alone, I was unnerved and haunted by what I dealt with at work every day and while out with detectives. I bought my first handgun, a Ruger .38 revolver, and took shooting lessons from a Henrico Conty police officer. I installed a deadbolt lock on my bedroom door and made sure never to leave my windows unsecured. Sometimes I carried my Ruger, depending on where I was going.”
When Cornwell became a celebrity, she discovered that fame could bring with it threats and stalkers. As time went on, she gathered a decent gun collection. I quote: “I had an entire saferoom full of guns. Revolvers, pistols, shotguns, an assault rifle or two. In those days, it was easy buying firearms in Virginia. I’d collect them for research purposes but also personal protection. It wasn’t unusual for me to have a Glock 9mm concealed in a fanny pack when I was out and about. I rarely drove anywhere without a gun on the passenger’s seat, and often practiced on the firing range with cops or FBI agents.”
I liked her earlier novels a lot, for some reason haven’t kept up with the later ones. Glad she practiced a fair bit “with cops or FBI agents” and wonder if she ever took any open enrollment courses (like MAG ones) to see what she might gain from that perspective. Also, in her position and with her history, I would think she’d recognize that carrying ALL the time would be a better plan than carrying only “depending on where I was going.”
I have read and enjoyed many of her Kay Scarpetta novels. Good to know P.C. practices what she preaches. 👍🏼 It might be fun to find them in Audible and listen to the series.
“I would think she’d recognize that carrying ALL the time would be a better plan than carrying only ‘depending on where I was going.'”
Amen. Trouble doesn’t RSVP. I’ve heard a lot of stories from students over the last four decades. Most of them start, “I was in a routine situation, in a routine location, at a routine time, when SHTF.”
POGO = Pants on, gun on.
Not always as easy for us gals, but we do get creative! Really bothers me that we can’t get away with it in many places.
I was in the auto parts store yesterday and observed a woman who did not appear to be wearing pants.
Most lawful gun owners — at least instinctively — know and follow the Rule of Three Stupids: Don’t do stupid things in stupid places with stupid people.
But as you said, trouble doesn’t RSVP. If staying away from stupid people, stupid places, and refraining from stupid activities was enough to keep one safe, we’d never need a gun and the annual DGU count would quickly approach zero.
Trouble comes knocking when you least expect it (if you did expect it, you’d be ready for it), and the criminal element is well-known to step outside its normal territory and find you where you feel safest, where your guard is most likely to come down. The lesson is not that you should never feel safe; it’s recognizing that feeling safe and being safe are two very different things, and feelings don’t trump reality.
Well written!
Never leave a gun on the passenger seat unless it’s secured to something to keep it from skittering away if you hit on the brakes. This was very telling in the FBI shooting which occurred several years ago in Miami when an agents gun went under the seat.
As for Ms Cornwell’s book series; I found the early ones very good then graduallly the main characters became unlikeable. They were a depressing bunch so I quit reading them. I’m sorry the book series went that way. Perhaps it’s changed I don’t know. Her book on searching for Jack the Ripper was very good.