Dana Hubanks

Sitting on a coffee shop patio, facing toward a busy street, absorbed by thoughts of my own little life–relationships, reflections, resentments–I am suddenly struck by the realization that I could be murdered at any moment. At any second, someone could decide to drive up, walk up, appear with a weapon, or with nothing but their hands and their rage, and take my life away from me. Unbidden. Unjustified.

This may seem a paranoid realization to have on a sunny, summer afternoon whilst sipping on a dopio espresso. Morbid and bone-chilling, certainly; but not unwarranted.

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I live in a world–we all live in a world–where the following facts hold true:

1. According to a review conducted by UN Women in 2013, 35 percent of women worldwide have experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence.

2. Between 2008 and 2012, over 45K people were murdered with the use of firearms in the United States.

3. Recently, there have been a staggering number of tragedies involving gun violence and the targeted murder of women at the hands of men (more specifically, upper-middle class white men).