Statement of Connie Cordovilla, VA NOW President
president@vanow.org
July 5, 2019

Virginia NOW demands that VA Senator Amanda Chase retract her recent Facebook statements regarding women, rape and handguns. Responding to a discussion of 2nd Amendment gun rights, Chase remarked that it's "those who are naive and unprepared that end up raped. Sorry but I'm not going to be a statistic." 

Chase (who represents parts of Chesterfield, Colonial Heights City, and Amelia) is trying to blame rape on "unarmed" victims and promoting the lie that guns save women's lives. In fact, women are much more likely to be killed by a gun than saved by one. Women who live in abusive situations are considered at grave risk when a gun is in the home - no matter who owns it - and women killed by their partners are more likely to be murdered with a gun than all other weapons combined.

Virginia NOW underscores that Chase promotes a dangerous and mis-informed opinion NOT based on facts about gun violence or about the circumstances of sexual abuse and rape.

Virginia voters have a candidate in state Senate District 11 who will responsibly represent women and  girls and promote policies to prevent sexual assault and ensure common sense gun reform.  Amanda Pohl, who is challenging Chase in this November's election, stated on July 3 that Chase should apologize for her statements and any implication that rape is caused by anything other than rapists. Pohl asserts that "Survivors are not 'naïve and unprepared' because they were raped. As someone who works in advocacy, I know we can prevent sexual assault by funding primary prevention and ending rape culture. Victim-blaming and shaming contributes to rape culture and harms survivors. Virginians deserve better."