News Editor: Katie Pavlich From: Townhall.com
Amanda Collins is a young rape survivor. While in college in 2007, she was raped 50 feet away from the campus police department office at the University of Nevada-Reno and was lucky to get out alive.
Her attacker was James Biela, a serial rapist who raped two other women and murdered another. He attacked her at gun point in a gun free zone.
At the time of the attack, Collins was in possession of a concealed weapons permit but was not in possession of her firearm due to university policies prohibiting carrying concealed weapons on campus. She was also a second degree blackbelt at the time and walked to the parking garage with a large group of people.
Today, Collins did an interview with NRA News host Cam Edwards to tell her horrific story. She explained why Colorado Democratic Rep. Joe Salazar's comments about call boxes and rape whistles being sufficient self defense for women on campus will only result in more uncessary victims.
"If I had been carrying that night, two other rapes would have been prevented and a young life would have been saved," Collins said.
"All of these are just sentiments that give a false sense of security. In my experience I know that the university that I attended, the University of Nevada-Reno, they didn't didn't have any call boxes the night I was attacked.
"They afterwards installed them but I can tell you that a call box above my head while I was straddled on the parking garage floor being brutally raped wouldn't have helped me one bit.
"The safe zone? I was in a safe zone and my attacker didn't care," Collins said. "It's known that I could see the police cruisers less than 50 feet away from me, from where I was being attacked but the moment I saw those cruisers, I knew at the same time that no one was coming for me....they were all off duty. The offices had closed. They weren't in their cruisers, there was no one there.
"A whistle wouldn't have gotten anybody's attention. It was isolated, it was late at night.
"It's really frustrating that I'm supposed to hand over my own protection to a man but they're not able to guarantee our protection and the comments that this representative made about women not knowing if they're going to be raped or accidentally shooting the wrong person were extremely offensive because he specifically targeted female students. So, is he saying that all women are unable to make sound decisions in the midst of that, that we should go against our God given gut instinct that something was wrong? I knew something was wrong the moment I was grabbed from behind."
Red-tape and university policies led to this happening and empowered Biela while punishing Collins.
"I was legislated into being a victim," Collins said.
The entire interview is worth your time. Please, take the time to watch it and please share it widely.
Not surprisingly, CNN's Piers Morgan denied Collins' request to come on his show and tell her story.
Her attacker was James Biela, a serial rapist who raped two other women and murdered another. He attacked her at gun point in a gun free zone.
At the time of the attack, Collins was in possession of a concealed weapons permit but was not in possession of her firearm due to university policies prohibiting carrying concealed weapons on campus. She was also a second degree blackbelt at the time and walked to the parking garage with a large group of people.
Today, Collins did an interview with NRA News host Cam Edwards to tell her horrific story. She explained why Colorado Democratic Rep. Joe Salazar's comments about call boxes and rape whistles being sufficient self defense for women on campus will only result in more uncessary victims.
"If I had been carrying that night, two other rapes would have been prevented and a young life would have been saved," Collins said.
"All of these are just sentiments that give a false sense of security. In my experience I know that the university that I attended, the University of Nevada-Reno, they didn't didn't have any call boxes the night I was attacked.
"They afterwards installed them but I can tell you that a call box above my head while I was straddled on the parking garage floor being brutally raped wouldn't have helped me one bit.
"The safe zone? I was in a safe zone and my attacker didn't care," Collins said. "It's known that I could see the police cruisers less than 50 feet away from me, from where I was being attacked but the moment I saw those cruisers, I knew at the same time that no one was coming for me....they were all off duty. The offices had closed. They weren't in their cruisers, there was no one there.
"A whistle wouldn't have gotten anybody's attention. It was isolated, it was late at night.
"It's really frustrating that I'm supposed to hand over my own protection to a man but they're not able to guarantee our protection and the comments that this representative made about women not knowing if they're going to be raped or accidentally shooting the wrong person were extremely offensive because he specifically targeted female students. So, is he saying that all women are unable to make sound decisions in the midst of that, that we should go against our God given gut instinct that something was wrong? I knew something was wrong the moment I was grabbed from behind."
Red-tape and university policies led to this happening and empowered Biela while punishing Collins.
"I was legislated into being a victim," Collins said.
The entire interview is worth your time. Please, take the time to watch it and please share it widely.
Not surprisingly, CNN's Piers Morgan denied Collins' request to come on his show and tell her story.
Collins is now an advocate for concealed carry on campuses across the country.
"Across the country, lawmakers are debating whether universities should let students and faculty with permits carry their concealed weapon on campus. Those who want to put an end to such gun-free zones have found an unlikely hero in a petite, soft spoken, young woman who wonders why colleges protect most Constitutional rights, but not the one that matters most when staring into the face of a violent criminal."
