Nevada Assemblywoman Michelle Fiore (R) believes that if college campuses allowed students to carry guns, young women would be better able to prevent sexual assault.
Fiore introduced a bill in the Nevada Assembly last week that would allow individuals with concealed carry permits to bring their firearms onto campuses in the state.
The assemblywoman cited safety as one of her concerns when she introduced the bill, and told the New York Times in an interview published Wednesday that the bill could help prevent rape.
“If these young, hot little girls on campus have a firearm, I wonder how many men will want to assault them. The sexual assaults that are occurring would go down once these sexual predators get a bullet in their head,” she said.
According to the Times, lawmakers have introduced similar bills in 10 states, including Florida and Texas. And gun rights activists have encouraged lawmakers to push these bills.
“The gun lobby has seized on this tactic, this subject of sexual assault,” Andy Pelosi, the executive director of the Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus, told the Times. “It resonates with lawmakers.”
John Foubert, an Oklahoma State University professor and president of One in Four, a group that teaches college students about sexual assault, told the Times that guns will not likely help women prevent rape.
“It reflects a misunderstanding of sexual assaults in general,” Foubert said. “If you have a rape situation, usually it starts with some sort of consensual behavior, and by the time it switches to nonconsensual, it would be nearly impossible to run for a gun. Maybe if it’s someone who raped you before and is coming back, it theoretically could help them feel more secure.”
