During juror questioning, the part where Jodi Arias has to answer questions submitted by the jury, she was asked why she bought the 9MM handgun. This is the handgun that she bought just weeks after admittedly shooting Travis Alexander in the head. She answered that people at work were planning a camping trip and she thought that it would be fun to go. She wasn’t exactly sure of all who would be going but she was sure that two men, that she knew from her work, would be going. She said that she didn’t know these men “all that well” and was buying the gun for protection from them.
This camping trip was not mandatory. It was not a part of her work. It was purely an attempt on her part to have fun. She acknowledges that going on a camping trip, into the woods, with two men that you don’t know “all that well” could be potentially dangerous. That is a reasonable conclusion on her part and for that matter it is a reasonable conclusion on the part of anyone.
Having come to that conclusion, a normal person would react to this potential danger by simply not going on the trip. Remember that the trip was not mandatory. She had no reason to attend the trip other than just in an attempt to have some fun. Also remember that she had correctly concluded that a woman planning to camp with two men that she didn’t know all that well, could be dangerous.
Rather than cancel the potentially dangerous trip, she devised a way to make the trip safer for herself. She decided to go out and buy a 9MM handgun. She would then bring that gun with her on the trip. If one or both of the men were to try something funny, she would point the gun at them, as she had with Travis. If they would not stop, as she claims Travis did not, then she would shoot them, just as she did Travis. Her intended approach, to deal with potentially dangerous camping partners, might well result in her killing one of them or both of them.
Or she could have completely negated the potential danger that these two men presented to her, in another way. The other way to have completely negated all danger to herself, would have been to just not go on the camping trip. Yes, Jodi would miss out on some fun by not going but by missing out on this fun she would be eliminating the potential necessity of her killing two more men.
We know what she chose. She wasn’t giving up her fun, even if it meant having to kill two more people. Remember she had already admitted , at that point in time, that she had already shot one man (Travis Alexander) and that she bought the 9MM just in case she might have to shoot two more.
In other words, she was planning to take the gun with her on the camping trip in the event that she would be attacked and she wanted to be prepared. Here’s how she answered the jury question: “I’d rather have it [the gun] and not need it than need it and not have it.”
Most people, if faced with this potentially dangerous situation, simply wouldn’t go on the camping trip. They would want to avoid a potentially dangerous situation and they also would want to avoid the possibility of taking the life of another. They would not be willing to kill simply so they might have some fun on a camping trip.
Instead of choosing not to go on the camping trip, and foregoing the pleasure of camping, Jodi decided to purchase a gun for her safety. This gun would provide her safety from her two camping companions…the very ones that she thought would be fun to go camping with. She in essence is admitting that she is quite willing to kill again.
The time of the planned camping event is important to consider. This camping trip was to occur just weeks after she had savagely killed Travis Alexander. The trip never happened; she was arrested just before it was to occur.
We already know that Jodi is a killer. Her sworn court testimony clearly states that fact. Her answer to that jury question, asking why she bought the 9MM, is very telling. It shows her willingness to kill again.
We are covering the Jodi Arias trial, focusing on mental illness and criminology. New articles analyzing the psychodynamics of the issues involved are being posted on a daily basis. To read more please go to KristinaRandle.com/blog