Avoiding Recall: Colorado's "You Don't Need a Gun to Prevent Rape" Evie Hudak Resigns

Katie Pavlich | November 27, 2013 11:40 AM

After seeing two of her Colorado colleagues recalled over anti-gun votes, Democratic State Senator Evie Hudak, will submit her resignation.

Hudak will hold a news conference Wednesday morning at the Arvada Library.

"By resigning I am protecting these important new laws for the good of Colorado and ensuring that we can continue looking forward," Hudak wrote in her resignation letter in regard to her gun votes, which led to the recall effort.

Proponents of the recall have until early next week to submit about 18,900 valid signatures to the secretary of state's office. If enough signatures are valid, Hudak would be the third Colorado lawmaker to face a recall election this year because of her support for tougher gun laws.

Earlier this year, Colorado State Senator Angela Giron and Senate President John Morse, both from blue districts, were recalled and replaced with Republicans. Hudak was likely pressured into her resignation. If she had lost her recall election (which was likely), Democrats in Colorado would lose a majority in the legislature. Now, Democrats will be able to appoint Hudak's replacement, further ignoring constituents while allowing Democrats to avoid the consequences for anti-gun votes.

As a reminder, Hudak is the woman who told rape survivor Amanda Collins back in March during a hearing about concealed carry on campus that a gun wouldn't have helped her when she was attacked and lectured her by saying, "statistics are not on your side." Collins was raped at gun point in a gun free zone in 2007 while walking to her car at the University of Nevada-Reno. Due the University's no weapons policy, Collins was in possession of her concealed carry permit at the time of the attack, but not her firearm. Her assailant went on to rape two more women and killed one of them, Brianna Denison, who was just 20-years-old.

You can learn more about Amanda's story here.

UPDATE: Compass Colorado, the group helping to lead recall efforts, has released a statement.

“This is yet another indicator that the tides are changing in Colorado politics,” Executive Director of Compass Colorado Kelly Maher said in a statement. “Coloradans are sick of the extreme Democrats trying to control their lives. These “progressives” have overreached so far on so many issues that Colorado families are now ready for a new vision.”