by Patrick McCormick

About the author: Patrick McCormick is a columnist for U.S. Catholic, a monthly Catholic-oriented magazine.

[In fall 1994], while politicians and candidates of every stripe were falling over themselves trying to prove to concerned voters that they were tougher on crime than their wimpy opponents, I had a slightly more personal encounter with the surprise hot campaign issue of ’94. Somebody tried to mug me.

Paying Attention to Crime and Crime Rhetoric

Fortunately, thanks mainly to my assailant’s incompetence and a good deal of luck, I escaped unharmed, and he was later apprehended by the local police. Still, though the incident didn’t transform me into a conservative or lead to a National Rifle Association membership, I have felt its lingering impact. More than once in the last few months I’ve jumped at the unexpected...