Colorado Rep: Women's Feelings Lead to Unnecessary Shootings

A Colorado legislator stated Monday that women in college should not carry guns to protect themselves from sexual assault, because they may prematurely shoot harmless men they “feel” are dangerous.

During a debate on gun control in the Colorado legislature, a bill HB13-1226, was presented to eliminate legal concealed carry on college campuses by permit holders. Rep. Joe Salazar (D-Thornton) decided that women should be denied the right to carry their legal guns because even if they felt they were going to be raped, they had call boxes and safe zones to protect them. Salazar asserted:

There are some gender inequities on college campuses. 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.

Remember when Todd Akin was condemned by Barack Obama for his use of the terms “legitimate rape” in these terms?

So what I think these comments do underscore is why we shouldn’t have a bunch of politicians, a majority of whom are men, making health care decisions on behalf of women. And so although these particular comments have led Governor Romney and other Republicans to distance themselves, I think the underlying notion that we should be making decisions on behalf of women for their health care decisions or qualifying ‘forcible rape’ versus nonforcible rape — I think those are broader issues and that is a significant difference in approach between me and the other party.

Obama had no trouble asserting that women should make their own decisions regarding their health and safety. What does this staunch defender of women’s rights have to say when his own party members want to leave them defenseless, suggesting that they would shoot without thinking if given the opportunity?