The National Rifle Association was quick to weigh in on the news Monday that reality television star Kim Kardashian was the victim of an armed robbery in Paris — responding with a sarcastic message on Twitter. “Wait, criminals held @KimKardashian at gunpoint in Paris?” the NRA tweeted. Paris police
If the headline read American Woman Tied Up, Gagged, Robbed at Gunpoint in Paris Hotel, the American public would be protesting and defending the woman. However, the tragic incident has in fact received criticism as well as praise. The importance of this Kim Kardashian robbery is not because it allows her critics to victim blame, but it is important because of who she is, the details of the crime, and her background stance towards gun control.
To begin, the fact that the victim happens to be a multi-millionaire businesswoman who is constantly slut-shamed by the media creates a controversial bias, as many people find it hard to empathize over one who “posts her jewellery and belongings” over social media. Regardless of what she seeks to flaunt, it does not warrant an illegal crime to commence. It raises the disgusting utterance of “she was asking for it,” which is one that women throughout the world are fighting a battle against, for issues deeper than social media.
Secondly, the disguise that the robbers have chosen is also significant to the crime. They chose to dress as police officers. Authoritative figures who are legal - and expected - to carry firearms. If they had not chosen a disguise which created a normative ideology in our minds that carrying a weapon in the open is allowed, would they have gone so far? Would the actual authorities have been called much earlier on? Does this raise questions as to what constitutes police officers to carry weapons, when they abide by the same laws and regulations as the rest of the population?
Thirdly, the most significant aftermath of this robbery has to do with Kardashian’s anti-gun activism. As she has repeatedly stated in interviews and social media outlets, Kardashian as requested for strict gun laws, making it harder for the accessibility of firearms. One example of this is more thorough background checks. However, after the NRA (National Rifle Association) received news of her incident, they began to mock Kardashian on what she stood for, as France does have more strict gun-laws than the U.S. Despite the fact that they present inaccurate accusations (you are 18 times more likely to be shot in the U.S. than in France), the NRA took this as an opportunity to speak down on a woman who has just suffered a traumatic event.
