Although he is now trying to walk back his offensive comments, a Colorado legislator outraged women across America last week when he asserted that college women should not be permitted to carry guns to protect themselves against sexual assault because they might shoot someone by accident.
Breitbart is reporting that during a debate in the Colorado House of Representatives on HB13-1226, a bill that will prohibit the carrying of a concealed weapon on college campuses, Rep. Joe Salazar (D) made comments about the dangers of allowing college women to carry guns to protect themselves against rape because they might shoot someone by mistake.
“There are some gender inequities on college campuses,” Salazar said. “This is true. And universities have been faced with that situation for a long time. It’s why we have call boxes, that’s why we have safe zones, that’s why we have the whistles because you just don’t know who you’re going to be shootin’ at. And you don’t know if you feel like you’re going to be raped, or if you feel like someone’s been following you around, or if you feel like you’re in trouble and when you may actually not be, that you pop out that gun and you pop around at somebody.”
As expected, his comments did not resonate well with women.
In fact, some of his own colleagues took him to task, such as Colorado Rep. Polly Lawrence (R) who said: “I’m sorry, a whistle and a call box are not going to help that woman on campus.” She also took issue with his implication that “women don’t know when we’re going to be raped, that [women] can’t recognize when there’s an inherent danger?”
Rep. Lori Saine (R) was also not impressed with the statement. “My daughter’s going to be going off to college in about 10 years,” Saine said. “I can’t imagine her only option’s going to be to outrun her attacker to a call box. I think she’s going to be responsible enough to handle a gun.”
It wasn’t long before the comments hit the airwaves and brought even more flak from women.
Talk radio host Dana Loesch accused him of insinuating that all women are “basically ditzes who are incapable of proper reasoning and capable of handling firearms . . . ”
Naturally, Salazar is now furiously backpedaling. ” I’m sorry if I offended anyone,” he said. “That was absolutely not my intention… If anyone thinks I’m not sensitive to the dangers women face, they’re wrong. . . . I am a husband and father of two beautiful girls, and I’ve spent the last decade defending women’s rights as a civil rights attorney. Again, I’m deeply sorry if I offended anyone with my comments.”
Loesch isn’t convinced. “Salazar claims to have a record of defending women’s rights but his actions to disenfranchise them of their Second Amendment rights are completely contradictory to that claim. One in four collegiate women report rape and one in five are raped. Salazar wants to deprive women of their right to defense with these odds? Just blow your rape whistles and pray that an attacker respects the ‘safe zone’ boundaries? The best apology is a reversal of his war on women.”
Unfortunately, the bill passed the Colorado House and is expected to do so in the Senate as well.
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