Father’s Cause: End “dial 9″ to reach 911.

Here’s an email I got today:

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Gregory -

A few weeks ago, my daughter Kari was stabbed to death in front of her children. The pain of this is unimaginable. But what’s almost worse is knowing my daughter might still be alive if her daughter, my granddaughter, had been able to reach 911.

You see, my daughter was killed in a hotel room. When my 9-year-old granddaughter saw that her mom was in trouble, she did exactly what she had been taught to do: she picked up the phone and called 911.

 

But because the Baymont Inn & Suites, which is owned by hotel giant Wyndham, has an outdated system where you have to “dial 9″ to get an outside line, my granddaughter’s call never reached 911. 

So my grandkids were forced to wait as their mom died. All because my granddaughter didn’t understand to dial an extra 9.

I started a petition on Change.org urging lawmakers and hotel chains like Wyndham to fix this broken phone system by supporting Kari’s Law, which would require businesses to make sure their phone lines can easily access 911 in times of emergency. Will you click here to sign?

It’s not just victims and family members like me who are passionate about this change: 911 operators say that “dial 9″ systems lead to lots of accidental calls to 911, which clog up the system and make it harder for them to help with real emergencies.

In this day and age, there’s just no need for “dial 9″ systems anymore. Hotels have lots of other options, but they save money by keeping their old systems, even if that means my daughter couldn’t get the emergency care she needed.

It’s hard not to think about how terrified and angry my granddaughter must have been, trying to call emergency personnel to save her mom, but being unable to get through to the help she needed.


But I know that Change.org petitions have influenced the Wyndham hotel chain before, and even prompted Congress to pass a law to protect victims of bad water on military bases.

Please click here to sign my petition calling on Congress and companies like Wyndham to take action and make sure that what happened to my daughter never happens again.

I cannot tell you what this means to my family and me. If we can actually make something happen, then I will have to believe my daughter’s death wasn’t in vain.

Thank you,

Hank Hunt
Winona, TX

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Dear Mr. Hunt, I feel sorry your daughter was murdered, you have my sympathy. But did you ever consider that if your daughter had kept a gun in the night stand, it would have taken her seconds to grab that gun and shoot that bastard?

You know why more than than 200,000 people have signed your petition? Because it’s a feel good measure, let’s just pass another law that will force hotels to spend who knows how much money, a cost that will be passed to us, so some people can call 911 while they’re getting stabbed.

Forgive me for sounding insensitive, but if you want to honor Kari’s memory, buy yourself a gun, and encourage others to do the same. If you’re not an activist, then give a contribution to the NRA or the Second Amendment Sisters in her name.

Remember this, Mr. Hunt, laws are meaningless until someone enforces them. Can you call 911 during a blackout? What if you get disconnected while waiting for them to pick up? Relying on others for your survival is the worst thing you can do.

The only laws I respect are those that empower me to take care of myself. I love pro-gun laws, I love States were gun owners are respected. Good luck, Mr. Hunt. I hope this petition brings you peace, but I’m not going to lie to you just because it’s the polite thing to do.

Update: Mr. Hunt Replies to what I wrote:

Henry Hunt —

OK,
first of all I am a concealed carry licensee in the State of Texas and so is my wife. I had trained my daughters in self defense but I cannot make a grown adult do something they do not want to do. This was done in a motel so concealing a gun in HIS motel room wasn’t possible and I’m sorry but if someone grabs you and pulls you off balance and immediately starts stabbing I challenge anyone to be able to defend themselves against that kind of ambush. We don’t know if the the first stab killed her or not but we do know my grand daughter couldn’t summon help from the motel room and THAT is what we are wanting remedied. I support gun rights and I do not want my daughters memory used as a political “gun” so to speak for someone elses causes. As far as the the first comment, a “drive by commenter” who won’t sign their name to their own comment I say this, read it again and understand this, I blame no one but the monster that killed her. I blame him and him only. Do I think Hotels and Motels will do this on their own? One chain already has, Staybridge Suites, but this should be a requirement not only in hotels and motels but in offices, schools, high rises etc. The E911 system directly connects to emergency services and gives the operator the address, floor and room number. Someone suffering a heart attack may be able to dial 911 but can’t speak so having this systems can save seconds and lives.

Henry Hunt

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I am speechless, but in the end, Change.org isn’t Big Government forcing  people to do something, so if you want to sign Mr. Hunt’s Petition, go right ahead. Last time I checked, 300,000 people have already signed.

 

 

14 Responses to Father’s Cause: End “dial 9″ to reach 911.

  1. Anonymous says:

    It was the HOTELS FAULT…NOT THE ONE WHO KILLED HER??? wtF

  2. Henry Hunt says:

    OK,
    first of all I am a concealed carry licensee in the State of Texas and so is my wife. I had trained my daughters in self defense but I cannot make a grown adult do something they do not want to do. This was done in a motel so concealing a gun in HIS motel room wasn’t possible and I’m sorry but if someone grabs you and pulls you off balance and immediately starts stabbing I challenge anyone to be able to defend themselves against that kind of ambush. We don’t know if the the first stab killed her or not but we do know my grand daughter couldn’t summon help from the motel room and THAT is what we are wanting remedied. I support gun rights and I do not want my daughters memory used as a political “gun” so to speak for someone elses causes. As far as the the first comment, a “drive by commenter” who won’t sign their name to their own comment I say this, read it again and understand this, I blame no one but the monster that killed her. I blame him and him only. Do I think Hotels and Motels will do this on their own? One chain already has, Staybridge Suites, but this should be a requirement not only in hotels and motels but in offices, schools, high rises etc. The E911 system directly connects to emergency services and gives the operator the address, floor and room number. Someone suffering a heart attack may be able to dial 911 but can’t speak so having this systems can save seconds and lives.

    Henry Hunt

  3. Henry Hunt says:

    Follow up reply; Those are not my words in your title, those are yours and I have never said those words nor implied them.

    Henry Hunt

    • gunads says:

      Yet that is your cause, to force hotels to change their telephone systems so one can dial 911 without dialing 9 first.

  4. Mark J Fletcher Enp says:

    Just to eliminate the confusion here, what Mr. Hunt is asking for is (in most cases) not a replacement of expensive equipment, or even an expensive service call. Most modern telephone systems have the ability to recognize calls made to 911 as well as calls made to 9 – 1 – Area Code and Number.

    While I admit that there are some very old systems that may not accommodate this, They are few and far between as this was raised as an issue in the late 90s, and the PBX manufacturers address the issue. In fact, most PBX systems today can accommodate this with little to no expense. As noted with another hotel in the area, they placed a service call into their provider, the change was made, and all is well.

  5. Mark J Fletcher Enp says:

    Reasonable requests, by reasonable people, get reasonable supporters.
    Thank you!

  6. rampr says:

    Yes. I understand that:
    1) Owning a gun will protect me ever.
    2) It’s very safe to put the gun in the nightstand in a hotel where my 9 year old is nearby.
    3) When I open the hotel door and someone has a gun on my head, I’ll be able to say freeze, retrieve the gun and shoot the intruder.
    4) I am more likely to get injured from the gun I own (9 to 1) than I would ever by a stranger but it’s my birthright to own a gun, so I will.
    5) Living in USA, I’m 20 times more likely to get killed from a stray bullet than any other first world countries but guns have nothing to do with it.
    6) The 2nd amendment was written more than 200+ years ago owing to the realities then, but it’s more relevant than what’s happening in 21st century.
    7) After a mass shooting in Australia, stringent gun control laws got passed and there are very less gun violence since then, but that’s Australia man! It won’t work in USA.
    8) I live a civilized society, but I believe the primal instinct of “might is right” is good, I’ll rather take law into my own hand that let the law enforcement do their own work.
    9) Removing all the background check is good because terrorists are stupid enough not to take advantage of it, a Mumbai style attack will never happen.
    10) More and more guns in hands of everybody will bring more security.

  7. rampr says:

    I further understand that:

    11) I’ve never heard of drive by knifing or mass knifing killing dozens of people, or throwing a knife from 25 feet is very effective in killing someone, but guns and knives have one thing in common, they’re just pieces of metals. Hey government, if you’re banning the gun, why not ban the metal.
    12) The original intent of 2nd amendment was to protect against oppressive government. I realize that guns are very inadequate in protecting me from the mighty US government. So I need automatics, grenades, rocket launchers and few nukes. Let’s make them available without any background check. Nukes are made of uranium and uranium is a metal, right?

    • gunads says:

      Just read a book, Rampr, “More Guns, Less Crimes” would be a good start. “No They Can’t!” by John Stossel has a 2nd Amendment chapter as well.

      • rampr says:

        I recommend you read “Shooting Down the More Guns, Less Crime Hypothesis” Stanford Law Review, 2003. I am hopelessly resigned to the fact that as a nation, we’re so armed to teeth that it actually makes sense to have more guns. But trust me, if the gun levels go below the threshold, it’ll be less guns, less crimes.

        • gunads says:

          Anyone can buy an anti-gun, anti-gay, anti-Jewish, anti-whatever book, that doesn’t make it true. I recommend you read this recent Harvard study.
          http://www.examiner.com/article/harvard-study-shows-gun-control-doesn-t-save-lives

          By the way, you think criminals are going to give up their guns? Even if they couldn’t get a gun (and they always can, even is restrictive places), they’re still going to commit crimes, that’s why they’re criminals. Gun ownership by the LAW-ABIDING had nothing to do with crimes by the law-less.

          P.S. More children are killed by swimming pools than gun accidents, do you want to regulate swimming pools? Demand fencing around them? What a loud of crap. How about you learn to love FREEDOM instead of crying tears over 11,000 dead in a country of 300 million. Why not celebrate the more than 1 million yearly uses of guns in self-defense? Why don’t you celebrate all the criminals getting killed by law-abiding gun owners? Stop being a fucking bleeding heart, stop enabling the liberal assholes that deprive you of arms while having as many as 17 armed bodyguards protecting their stupid asses (hello Bloomberg).

          You are not a slave, so remove your chains and join the free. Free men keep and bear arms, free men defend themselves, free men don’t die like dogs because they had nothing to fight back.

          • rampr says:

            Funny that you would say that. You did recommend a book to me. Didn’t you? But you don’t have the guts to accept the counter arguments. And of course you would have to stoop low to name calling because you’ve no reasonable valid arguments to counter the facts.

            In US you’re 20 times more likely to die because of a stray bullet. Have you ever analyzed why?

            Have you ever analyzed why more gun control contributed to less crimes elsewhere?

            Probably you didn’t understand my sarcasm about guns and knifes, because by bringing the swimming pool thing, you brought the same nonsensical argument. You would then go on to tell me why don’t you ban the car because road accidents kill people. You know what? Cars require licenses, insurances, there are a lot of control on car ownership than gun ownership.

            Look, I am not against a law abiding citizen owning a gun. Period. But there needs to be serious control on ownership and distribution.

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