Rape, Guns & Women - Where Are Our Hearts?

Lauren Kruger-Patchin
Blog #7: Rape, Guns & Women - Where Are Our Hearts?
3/12/13

As I've already mentioned, I am taking a women's gender studies course this semester that compliments this course very well. Today I did an assignment that I wanted to share with everyone. In class today we talked about violence and anti-gay hate crimes. Now, I want to talk about women being raped in violent attacks. This also ties in nicely to our lives because of the BSU "gunman" incident yesterday... Going to this link and watching the videos is seriously worth your time. I can't believe some of the things they said to this woman who just shared her rape story. How does society not value women more?

This was my discussion on the link from my other class...

I would like to discuss a particular article from Bust Magazine. While I found many of the articles on the website attention-getting, I found this one to be very timely with an issue concerning women - more specifically college women, like myself. And with the recent "gunman" scare at BSU, this is a hot topic.

The title: "Wanna Avoid Rape? Carry A Concealed Weapon, Says Rape Victim."

The title alone was attention grabbing. I couldn't tell if they were promoting gun use or trying to make it sound obsurd.

Rape and gun control are big issues when it comes to women's rights. With all of the mall, school, and movie theater shooting over the past year or so, gun control in general is a huge topic. So what happens if laws prevent women from carrying them on college campuses? Many college campuses already ban weapons. Ball State, obviously, is one of them... being as a huge search was held the other morning when a man was spotted with a gun.

The way I see it, people doing something bad with a gun will carry the gun whether it's allowed or not. People who could stop the crimes will only have a gun for protection if the law allows it. How does that make sense? The bad guy will have a gun either way, but if guns aren't allowed no one can stop them.

The woman in this article, Amanda, owned a firearm but did not have it with her the day she was raped. She said if she had it with her, things could have been different. When she asks, how does making her defenseless save them from a violent crime, I couldn't have agreed more. Making weapons illegal in certain places won't stop the people with bad intentions from entering those places with weapons. It only endangers those who follow the rules and need protection.

Lawmakers argue that they are trying to protect students and teachers from feeling uncomfortable by having her carry a gun to protect herself.. EXCUSE ME? You rather keep people from feeling "uncomfortable" instead of preventing a rape?! They bring statistics into it and say they aren't on her side, but if it could prevent ANY of the rapes, it's worth it. They argue that he would have turned her own gun around and used it on her... Her reply: "He already had a weapon of his own, he didn't need mine." SO POWERFUL. I feel for this woman. What a tough crowd. Where's the understanding and sympathy - even from the woman senator!

I give props to the man in the last video. He is a man standing up for this woman. It's great to see. I can't believe the woman who was arguing it!

Here is the link if anyone is interested in this article.

http://www.bust.com/wanna-avoid-rape-carry-a-concealed-gun-says-rape-victim.html