Surviving Sexual Assault, And Why Keeping People Disarmed Is A Bad Idea

After the testimony of Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo against the Campus Carry Bill SB11 last week at the Senate Committee On State Affairs we started receiving tons of emails from people who were appalled. Most people couldn’t believe that Austin PD wanted our daughters unarmed, at all times, just in case they were ever raped. But the statements in the video below are clear. One email stood out from the rest. It was an open letter to Art Acevedo from  a woman who was not only a veteran but a sexual assault survivor herself. We felt that it should be shared and included it below.

To Art Acevedo:
Surviving Sexual Assault, and Why Keeping People Disarmed is a Bad Idea.
By Bryanne P.

Art Acevedo recently testified in Texas that, for all intents and purposes, he does not wish for women to protect themselves with firearms, partially because of the chance that the perpetrator of a crime (in this case, sexual assault) *might* possibly take away her firearm and use it against here, and *gasp* the police.
As a survivor of a sexual assault, I find it atrocious that he does not appear to care for the lives of other women, nor does he support their right to defend themselves in the manner of which they choose. Instead he implies it is far better for a woman to lie back and take it, and seek counseling after the fact.

Yes, as a “survivor”, I was only able to take care of the situation which is seemly acceptable by Mr. Acevedo. He was much stronger than I, and as a soldier, I was unable to carry a firearm to protect myself. I struggled, but in the end I was only able to seek counseling along with the embarrassing situation of having to deal with the sexual assault protocols the U.S. Army had back in 2002. Had I been able to carry a firearm on my person at all times, my situation could have very well ended up with me, not spending years breaking out in a cold sweat whenever I smelled a certain cologne. I could still be in the Army looking forward to retire in 5 years. Instead of being allowed to protect myself however I so choose, I spent a lot of time in the weeks after the incident being told how it was my fault that I was sexually assaulted, and how I shouldn’t even be in the Army. One of the NCOs even told me “A lot of females never report when they’re raped, and they go on to have full careers. Just something to think about.”

Mr. Acevedo’s treatment of not allowing students to carry on college campuses reminds me very much of what I’ve experienced. His worrying about the chance that the perpetrator might disarm the victim could cause harm to his precious police officers, who are allowed to carry firearms themselves. This is part of the plague of thought common in police agencies across the country: that only the police are allowed to go home safe at night. They are allowed to wear body armor. They are allowed to carry firearms. They can shoot someone and rarely have any action taken against them if it’s unjustified. Those who aren’t police are left to their own devices, and cannot defend themselves for fear of penalty. They have to risk their lives, or they can risk going to prison for protecting themselves in a manner in which they see fit.

This is beyond getting a permission slip in the form of a CHL. This is straight up a denial of self-protection. This is a statement of police superiority to us lowly civilians. This is an invitation to those who would wish to exert their power over another in the form of sexual assault, to have no fear because their victims will be unarmed.

If I had the choice,  I would have rather had the choice to carry than to take the chance of being disarmed to just lay there and be a victim and suffer for years after the fact. The world needs less victims, not more, and certainly not victims whose only chance of making it through a situation is waiting for the police, who have no obligation to protect them during the commission of the act.