Amanda Collins had never planned on becoming a Second Amendment advocate. But on Oct. 22, 2007, when she was just 22 years old, her life would change forever. “I lived through the worst fear that I had had up until that point,” Collins, who’s now a mother of three, told The Daily Signal. “What happened was that while I was a student at the University of Nevada Reno, I was brutally raped.”

At the time, Collins said she obtained her concealed carry permit, but wasn’t allowed to carry a gun on campus. Had she been carrying a firearm that day, Collins believes the outcome could have been different.

Nine years later, with Collins’ convicted rapist now sitting on death row for raping and killing another victim in Nevada, she advocates for women’s right to choose. But when Collins’ talks about “choice,” she isn’t referring to the issue of abortion. Instead, Collins is referring to the right to choose how to defend herself.