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But because the Baymont Inn & Suites, which is owned by hotel giant Wyndham, has an outdated system where you have to “dial 9″ to get an outside line, my granddaughter’s call never reached 911.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

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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.