http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2006/06/remembering_kitty_ge.html
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Kitty Genovese was murdered outside her apartment block in 1964 by a stranger. The story of her death had a massive influence on psychology, leading to the description of the bystander effect – where people are less likely to intervene in an emergency when they're in groups as when they are alone.
This arose from the reports that Kitty was killed in sight of 38 of her neighbours, who all assumed that someone else would help or phone the police while she was being fatally stabbed. In the event, she died shortly after.
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I remember the Kitty Genovese incident. My uncle had a different take on it. NYC disarmed people with the infamous Sullivan Law. My uncle observed that getting involved unarmed was foolish. On the other hand, he remember a different time when his dad took the shotgun from the mantle and went out a broke up a dangerous fight in the street.
Perhaps, without the Sullivan Law, "making the streets safe", Ms. Genovese could have had her lady's gun. My great aunt had a very small two shot Derringer that she carried in her house coat for as long as I could remember. When she more to the country (Vermont), she switched to my great uncle's 1911 that he brought home from WWI. In her later years, when she didn't have the manual dexterity to operate the safety, she use a few rubber bands to squeeze it. She never used it and never had an accident.
Note that the politicians give themselves armed security. And the rich have no problems getting permits, special armed securty, and favorable treatment from the police and courts. Only the poor are disarmed; It makes it easier to oppress them.
So perhaps, if we let women defend themselves, and empowered our citizens to be the militia that the dead old white guys envisioned, we wouldn't have any wimpy "bystander effect".
IMHO
Reinke Faces Life 