CO lawmaker thinks whistles and "safe zones" are more than sufficiant

Joe Salazar: Rape victims shouldn’t have guns, because women may be overcome with paranoia

Robert Laurie (Bio and Archives) Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Colorado is currently in the midst of a heated gun control debate. There are several new measures moving through the state’s legislature, most prominently a complete ban on private firearm sales. If you’re in favor of this kind of thing, you’re probably thrilled to have a Democrat like Coloardo State Rep. Joe Salazar on your side.


Joe wants to be sure that college students aren’t armed, even if they have legal concealed carry permits. Whether or not they’re the victims of a rapist is irrelevant. When Republicans pressed the issue, Joe offered the following nugget of left-wing wisdom:

“It’s why we have call boxes, it’s why we have safe zones, it’s why we have the whistles. Because you just don’t know who you’re gonna be shooting at. And you don’t know if you feel like you’re gonna be raped, or if 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 a round at somebody.”

Women, he thinks, just need to calm down because there’s a good chance that the whole thing’s in their mind and they’re not being raped at all. Clearly, Joe thinks they’re a jumpy lot, prone to hysterics and paranoia. For that reason, we’ll all be safer if they hang on to their whistles and leave the firearms at home.

Here’s video of Salazar’s remarks, shot last week on the floor of the Colorado legislature.



Colorado Legislator on guns: "Feel like you're going to be raped ... you may not be." - YouTube

Yesterday, as the story spread, his offices were inundated with angry phone calls and emails. Apparently, people just weren’t buying the idea that the best defense is to be in a “safe zone” and hope there’s a working call box nearby. Today, he buckled and issued the following apology.

“I’m sorry if I offended anyone. That was absolutely not my intention. 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. Again, I’m deeply sorry if I offended anyone with my comments.”

So Salazar now claims to be deeply sensitive to women’s civil rights except, obviously, the 2nd Amendment rights that he’s still so eager to restrict. With rape a rampant problem on American college campuses, isn’t it nice to know that a guy like this is doing everything in his power to ensure that women are as defenseless as possible?

Congratulations, Representative Salazar, you’re our War on Women power player of the week!

Robert Laurie’s column is distributed by CainTV, which can be found at caintv.com


Joe Salazar: Rape victims shouldn’t have guns, because women may be overcome with paranoia