Whenever I read the latest updates from Mom Demands Action, I can’t help but cringe. This gun control group tries to use their standing as mothers to advocate against the Second Amendment. They use their experience as mothers to claim they know what’s best for each and every one of us.

But they don’t know our story.

They don’t know my story.

Here’s my letter to all of those “moms” out there.

Dear “Moms,”

I am a Second Amendment advocate and I want to tell you my story. I want to tell you why I’m pro-gun and why you do NOT speak for me.

A few weeks shy of my 19th birthday, I was sexually assaulted in my college dorm room. My virginity stolen from me by a guy I had just met. I was new to the adult world, 600 miles from home, and forced to press charges against my perpetrator.

Everywhere I turned, I was afraid – paranoid even – that he was behind me, lurking and watching my every move. I felt insecure. For the first time in my life, I was afraid. Afraid to walk to class, afraid to walk to the dining hall, afraid of staying on campus – until eventually, everything I did was out of fear of my attacker.

That experience in my life was horrific, but it was an eyeopener. It made me realize two things:

1. The world isn’t always peaches and sunshine. There is evil in the world and people who want to hurt you.
2. At the end of the day, the only person who can protect me is me.

When you talk about campus carry advocates being drunken college kids who are going to shoot each other up, you’re utterly wrong. You’re talking about people like me. You’re talking about young women just like my 19-year-old self who are in need of protection.

What do you propose we do to defend ourselves? Carry a rape whistle and hope someone hears us? Dial 9-1-1 and wait until the cops show up?

Why should a survivor, like me, advocate in favor of victimhood? That is what your group is all about – creating more victims.

Instead of relying on others to protect me, I rely on myself…and my proficiency with my firearm.

I will never apologize for doing everything in my power to make sure other women don’t have to go through the horrendous pain I went through.

I will never apologize for advocating for women to protect themselves.

But I will call out people like you who try to keep me, and others like me, from protecting ourselves.

Sincerely,

A victim turned survivor