Joe Salazar Rape Comment: Women Don't Need Guns, Even If They Fear Sexual Assault

Representative Joe Salazar (D-Colo.) isn't a "boorish, macho Latino" as some have stated. In his zeal to ban guns, he's shown himself to be a Todd Akin-level fool. Akin's 2012 comments to the effect that women could "prevent pregnancy" in the case of "legitimate rape" arose from his desire to ban abortion, no matter what the circumstance of pregnancy. The statements of both men arose from political zeal which led them to voice opinions at odds with common sense and human decency. 

In a speech Friday to the Colorado legislature regarding gun laws, Salazar noted, "There are some gender inequities on college campuses ... that's true."

The shrikes of the left seem to find it acceptable that rape was described as a "gender inequity." Salazar was just getting started. He continued to explain his attitudes regarding campus rape safety. "You" refers to females on campuses and whether or not they should be allowed to have guns for protection.

"You don't know if you feel like you're going to be raped ... or you feel like someone's been following you around or if you feel like you're in trouble when you may actually not be, that you pop out that gun and you pop ... pop around at somebody."

Salazar has since "apologized." It's likely he was surprised anyone would question his comments, as most media is uninterested in any Democrat with bad attitudes toward women, and must be forced to cover the worst offenders, such as Anthony Weiner and possibly, Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), who appears to be hanging tough in the face of multiple accusations from underage Dominican prostitutes.

According to Salazar, "We were having a public policy debate on whether or not guns make people safer on campus. I don't believe they do. That was the point I was trying to make. 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."

Salazar is not alone in his relative ignorance of sexual assault and self-defense. The University of Colorado-Colorado Springs has a series of 60s-style safety tips for students to "protect themselves":

These tips are right in line with Salazar's unrealistic attitude. "Kick off your shoes," because of course, all women are walking around campus in high heels. The tips advise "passive resistance" and include such statements as "if your life is in danger."

It's hard not to interpret the list as indicating that sexual assault may be a mild or relatively "friendly" incident where the victim's life is not in danger. For example, if the victim is close enough to hit or bite, the incident has already become a physical confrontation. Is the victim supposed to question what type of harm the criminal means at that point?

Here's one very basic safety tip: if a criminal takes control of you using a weapon or even no visible weapon ("passive resistance") and takes you to a secluded area, your chances of survival dramatically decrease. Never allow a criminal to physically take control of you. The recommendation of "passive resistance" on the University of Colorado list makes it obvious that the list was not prepared with any input from real law enforcement or self defense experts. 

Encouraging women to carry guns on campus for protection in the absence of no other safety and self-defense training isn't as strong a solution as encouraging general safety practices, such as never walking alone at night or in a secluded area (some rapists target lone female joggers and hikers) for any reason.

But telling students to vomit, urinate, or claim to have an STD or be menstruating? Really not high up on the "smart safety tip" list. Better to not be in the situation in the first place. And if a woman does have a gun for protection and is accosted by a rapist or other criminal? 

Use it.

Let Salazar and his friends decide whether or they are legitimately under threat the next time he is walking alone late at night in an isolated area. Somehow I don't doubt that as a "criminal investigator" with the state of Colorado, Salazar found many ways to fault female victims of any number of crimes, up to and including those victims found in shallow graves or dead on arrival.