Possession of a firearm by a person convicted of rape—a felony—is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Additionally, giving someone convicted of rape a firearm is also punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
"We're talking about why shouldn't a woman be able to carry a gun to protect herself. But if you're going to give her a gun, you also have to give rapists a gun," Know Your IX Co-Founder Alexandra Brodsky told CBS News during an interview discussing campus carry Friday. "And I think that we can all realize that's a really bad idea."
Brodsky is a student at Yale Law School and an editor at Feministing as well as The Feminist Utopia Project. In 2013, she helped found Know Your IX, which describes itself as a "national survivor-run, student-driven campaign to end campus sexual violence." She has written for the New York Times, The Washington Post, and a number of other major media outlets. She has also been interview by ABC News, CBS News, and NBC News.
The report Brodsky was quoted in was critiqued by the Media Research Center, a conservative media watchdog group, as slanted towards the gun control point of view. "Michelle Miller spotlighted a Florida State University graduate student who backs the bill," MRC's Matt Balan said in a post on Newsbusters.org. "However, Miller also featured two opponents of such "campus carry" legislation during her report."
Neither Brodsky nor Know Your IX responded to inquires on Brodsky's argument that allowing those with concealed carry permits to carry on college campuses would mean giving guns to rapists.