Nikki Goeser isn’t your typical gun rights activist. She carries with her a wisdom that was forged in the fire of anguish. Her book, Stalked and Defenseless: How Gun Control Helped My Stalker Murder My Husband in Front of Me, tells how a stalker’s evil obsession over her culminated in tragedy. This person harassed her online and showed up at multiple venues where she and her husband, Ben, operated their karaoke business. After multiple inappropriate messages on social media, Nikki blocked and deleted him. This only compelled her stalker to become more volatile.
On a seemingly normal night in 2009, the stalker walked into a sports bar/restaurant, confronted Nikki’s husband, and shot him multiple times in front of her and many other patrons. All the while, the handgun Nikki was permitted to carry was locked away in her vehicle due to Tennessee law forbidding her from having it on her person inside the establishment where the murder took place. Since then, Nikki has become an advocate for safety, situational awareness, and pro-2A legislation.
Listening to Nikki’s experience, as well as the pain in her voice, gives you a sense of her fierce determination to change the laws that prevented her from carrying her firearm the night her husband was taken from her. Today, Nikki has turned her fear into motivation, pain into determination, and her character shines to all those around her. She’s a true example of what one dedicated individual can accomplish. If there’s one takeaway we gleaned, it’s to get involved with your local government now! Make your voice heard and take a stand against what the uninformed like to refer to as “common sense gun laws.”
RECOIL: In your experience with being stalked, at what moment did you realize that the stalker was shifting from a nuisance to a genuine threat and becoming a serious concern for your safety?
Nikki Goeser: I didn’t realize that my karaoke customer was indeed stalking me until the very night that he murdered Ben. I wrote in my book that I’d deleted and blocked him. He was no longer singing after I blocked him. He just stood in the venues and would stare at me. At that point I started to worry about what else was going on. I thought to myself, “Could he be stalking me?” He wasn’t verbally or physically threatening me. He wasn’t doing anything illegal. He was in a public place. What options did I have at that point? He approached Ben and Ben told him, “You’re scaring her, you need to leave her alone.”
Ben set the
