Summary Of Safety By Linda Hasselstrom

Linda Hasselstrom, the author, is a woman with a mission-finding a solution to feel safe. She starts out by giving the reader a quick understanding of her life. She lives alone in a private ranch in South Dakota located twenty-five miles from the nearest town. She often travels alone as a freelance writer and often stays home alone in the winter seasons. Being an educated woman, Hasselstrom is well aware of her surroundings which is why she takes every precaution to avoid a situation where she can become a victim. Nevertheless, she has struggled with unfortunate events and experiences that have led her to question her safety over the lasts ten years.
Hasselstrom writes about the events that made her cautious towards the opposite sex. She speaks about the three terrifying events that lead her to the decision in carrying a firearm. She states her first encounter, a camping trip with a close friend to a national park .On that day she overheard two young men at

the neighboring campsite speak of the terrifying things they would love to do to herself and friend once night fell. Although she alerted the ranger official about the young men’s conversation, she simply received a pat on the back and was told to relax because it was just talk. Disappointed on how that particular situation was handled she and her friend drove away from their assigned site and continued several miles down the road ending up spending the night parked illegally in a different site. The second event took place when she encountered a group of four men who without reason blocked off the road as she drove home one night. She states that she was saved by a passing motorist and left the situation unharmed but afraid. In her third event she brings up a confrontation with a man carrying a shotgun on her private property. She explained to the man that he could not hunt on private lands and that he should depart the area before authorities are contacted. The man simply starred at her and pointed the gun at her face. Once again, the author expresses how powerless she felt in that situation; she also realizes how easy it would have been for the man to shoot her and drive away without anyone noticing.
Hasselstrom considers herself a peace-loving person but has experienced too many situations that lead her to take martial arts classes, carry a gun and marry her husband George, a six-foot and 220-pounds man. Hasselstrom explains how she conceals her weapon in her daily routines and how it is always within reach.
Hasselstrom concludes her story with an incident where she was retrieving her mail and encountered a group of drunken men.

The men were trespassing, littering and urinating on her property. Upon confronting them, she was surrounded by the men who used vulgar language towards her and posed a threat to her safety. Although she was scared, Hasselstrom stayed calm and held her ground. She requested for the men to clean up the mess they made and to leave the premises. Regardless of her verbal commands the men simply refused to comply and became aggressive towards her. At this point Hasselstrom retrieves the handgun from her waist and once again repeats her commands. This time without any fuss, the men quickly follow every order and disappeared in a blink of an eye. With that, Hasselstrom states, “The pistol just changed the balance of power” (24). She indicates, although a man may be stronger than a woman, in this case she was out matched and outnumbered. The weapon shifted the balance of the power in her

favor.
As a female who is thought of as weak and fragile, I can relate to her story in many ways. As a young woman, I often felt threatened by men with or without the protection of my friends. Although, I am not as brave as the author to carry or plan to carry a gun in the future, I have taken lesser precautions. I do carry mace and am always alert of my surroundings. Fortunately, my living situation is different from the author’s; I still live at home with my family in a safe suburban area. Nonetheless, I will someday leave my safety nest and make a home for myself where I might change my thought process in having a weapon for protection somewhere. I also believe that it is in everyone’s right to carry a licensed, registered gun in order to protect themselves.