Rape Survivor Amanda Collins Speaks Out About Concealed Carry Law Controversy [Video]

Amanda Collins was raped in 2007 by an armed attacker in a campus gun-free zone at the University of Nevada at Reno. Yesterday she appeared at a Colorado legislative hearing to testify against a bill banning concealed-carry weapons from college campuses. The exchange with a state lawmaker created a lot of buzz on social media.

As The Inquisitr has previously reported, Democrat state Senator Evie Hudak responded that Collins’ story was “unsettling,” but went on to cite statistics supporting the view that a gun wouldn’t have made a difference. Hudak said, “actually, statistics are not on your side, even if you had a gun.”

“Respectfully senator, you weren’t there,” Collins, a Second Amendment supporter, replied.

Amanda Collins, who owns a firearm but was not allowed by law to bring it on campus, went on FNC this morning to further discuss her experience as a rape survivor and that how a gun could have made the difference.

“I was there. I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt in my mind, that had I been carrying that night I would have at some point been able to stop my attack. And consequently, two other rapes would have been prevented and a young life would have been saved.”

Collins was alluding to the fact that her attacker killed another woman, and he is now sitting on death row for the crime.

Although trained in martial arts, Collins added that her skills are only a form of risk reduction and not a guarantee of any kind especially against a larger, stronger male assailant. “My choice in how I want to protect myself should not be mandated by the government,” she said.

Amanda Collins explained that the Nevada law prohibited her from having her gun in the car, and that on the night she was raped, she left the gun home “as a law-abiding citizen.” At the end of the FNC interview, Collins declared her gun would have enabled her “to stop my attack while it was in progress.”

State Sen. Hudak subsequently issued an apology to Collins in a written statement:

“I didn’t mean to be insensitive. I’m glad I had the opportunity to offer [her] a sincere apology in a private conversation.”

Collins questioned the sincerity of the apology, however, telling the Denver Postthat “I don’t know how genuine it really was.”

Another Colorado Democrat lawmaker who supports gun control, Joe Salazar, recently got into trouble with comments along the lines that armed women can’t be trusted to determine if they are really in danger.

Watch college rape survivor and gun owner Amanda Collins on FNC: