Twelve years ago, Nikki Goeser watched helplessly as a stalker murdered her husband in cold blood. Tragically, at the time, she was a concealed carry permit holder, but state law forbade her from bringing her firearm into the restaurant where her husband was killed.
“It changed my life totally,” Goeser said. “I was just an ordinary lady living my happy, ordinary life that I loved. We see these things on the news, and think it happens to other people, but it happened to me. I don’t want anyone else to have to go through something horrible like that.”
Goeser went on to become an outspoken gun rights advocate and wrote about her experience in her book, Stalked and Defenseless.
She wants to save others from the suffering she endured after gun control laws left her defenseless. It frustrates her that victims of violence will often blame the firearm instead of the perpetrator. “I never blamed the gun,” Goeser explained. “I blamed the murderer and those who legislated me out of my right to protect myself and my husband.”
She regrets that she was not an advocate for gun rights until this tragedy and warns that Americans cannot become complacent. “I think its important that conservatives get more involved now than ever,” she said.
She warns that Joe Biden is no friend of the Second Amendment and if he gains the presidency and Republicans lose the Senate, gun control bills will be passed that put law-abiding citizens in danger. “Criminals aren’t going to care,” she said. Instead, under a Biden administration, it will be more expensive for honest, hard-working Americans to defend themselves. She noted that in Washington, D.C., it costs $125 just to have a background check done, and upwards of $200 in New York City.
“We know that people who need to protect themselves the most are law-abiding people who live in high-crime urban areas,” she said. “There are a lot of people who get priced out of their basic human right to self-defense because anti-gun politicians make it too costly for them.”
Biden’s campaign website says he plans to ban the manufacture, sale, and possession of a host of popular semiautomatic firearms, including the most popular one of all, the AR-15. For anyone who currently owns such guns, Biden’s plan calls for government confiscation, unless gun owners pay a $200 tax and register their firearms with a national data base.
Goeser is now the executive director of the Crime Prevention Research Center, an organization that conducts research on the relationship between gun control laws, crime and public safety. Her book is filled with facts about the criminal use of firearms that the mainstream media ignores. For example, she shared a bar graph of the 10 worst mass public shootings in the U.S. and western Europe since 1991 based on number of victims killed. By far the worst mass shooting in that period was the 2015 Paris, France attack that left 130 killed. The second most deadly mass shooting was in Utoya, Norway in 2011 in which 67 people were killed.
She said gun-free zones pose the biggest threat to public safety. “I believe these places are targets where evil people go to wreck the most havoc. They are an invitation to criminals who know they are going to go where people cannot protect themselves.”
Goeser said she’s been accused by gun control advocates of being paranoid. One man even suggested “if you’re that scared, just stay home.” Goeser said she’s not paranoid, she’s prepared. She compared carrying a firearm for self-protection to owning a fire extinguisher or life-insurance or wearing a seatbelt. “If something horrible happens, at least you have a fighting chance.”
As Goeser reflected on her life since becoming a widow at age 33, she said it’s been hard.
“Being a widow is not fun, but I have tried to find the joy in life. I have immersed myself in things that make me happy. I don’t want that man [her husband’s killer] to claim my entire future,” she said.
While the holidays are always tough, Goeser, said there are constant reminders of her loss throughout the year, “Ben’s birthday, New Year’s Eve, that was our wedding anniversary, or just driving down the road and hearing a song on the radio that reminds me of Ben. Or I’ll see a man from behind who looks like Ben and my heart jumps out of my chest.
“I want people to think about what they really value most in life, and I’m guessing that’s their family. Really think about their loved ones and do everything they can do to protect them.”
Catherine Mortensen is Vice President of Communications at Americans for Limited Government.