In the nine days since Omar Mateen allegedly killed 49 and wounded more than 50 in a popular gay bar in Orlando, many politicians and pundits have called for further regulation of firearms. Backers of bills like the four blocked in the U.S. Senate on Monday say gun control will make American citizens safer.

One Congresswoman, however, says that not having a weapon made her an easy target nearly 20 years ago, when three men broke her cheekbone and attempted to force her into their car.

“I was on the campus of Vanderbilt University in broad daylight,” Rep. Diane Black (R-TN) told The Stream in an exclusive interview. “I had just returned from meeting with a facilities staff member about renting out a meeting room on campus for an event for my women’s group at church. I was walking to my car when I noticed a nearby vehicle backing up to my location on the sidewalk.”

“Three young men exited the car and headed towards me. I immediately felt a sense of panic I have not felt before or since. I started to run away, but they quickly caught up to me and tackled me to the ground. They tried to pull me into their car, and I began screaming and trying to resist. Eventually, they gave up at the sight of a nearby bystander.”

The attackers broke her cheekbone and ruptured a disc in her back. “The police later told me that if my attackers had successfully dragged me into their vehicle, I would have never returned.”

Gun Ownership Increases Safety

Black also discussed the assault with conservative radio host Ralph Bristol on Friday, where she said, “I could’ve made that incident a lot less dangerous for me if I’d had a gun to take care of it. I now have a carry permit. I now feel safe because I am protecting myself.”

Unlike many of her colleagues, Black hasn’t let the Orlando shooting dissuade her from supporting the Second Amendment rights of Americans. On Thursday, she released a statement hammering declaring her support for expanded gun rights and criticizing Members of Congress who backed the four restrictive Senate bills.

“Anyone who thinks that another gun control law will thwart the will of a radical Islamist who is intent on taking innocent life is delusional,” Black said in the statement. “[I]nstead of eroding the 2nd Amendment, we must expand these rights so that Americans are empowered to protect themselves from those who would do us harm.”

Asked about how greater access to firearms could have helped stop her attackers almost two decades ago and Mateen just nine days ago, Black told The Stream,

I often think about how, if I had a gun, I could have neutralized my attackers and stopped them from bringing harm to anyone else. The same is true in Orlando. My greatest wish in the wake of this attack is that someone in that club would have been armed and able to apprehend this terrorist before he caused further loss of life. Sadly, under Florida state law, such a person would have been committing a crime themselves by bringing their weapon into a “gun free zone.”

In 2013, more than 33,000 people died from firearm discharges, two-thirds of which were suicides. Numerous studies from the 1990s forward, however, show that firearms are more frequently used in self-defense than to initiate assaults against other people.

Protecting People From Becoming Victims

Black told The Stream that while she was always a backer of the Second Amendment, “it was not personal for me” before her attack. After it, “I realized how this Constitutional freedom can protect people from becoming victims. I got my handgun carry permit after the assault, and I’ve never regretted it. Over the years, I’ve also come to enjoy guns for sport, but the first purpose behind my decision to own a gun remains self-defense.”

Many female Members of Congress — mostly Democrats, but also Republican Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire — back further regulations of weapons. Polling shows that a modest majority of women support increased gun control, and many women’s voices are being heard on social media in support of less gun ownership.

“The Constitutional right to keep and bear arms is actually a great equalizer,” Black told The Stream. “It is because of the Second Amendment that a 65-year-old woman like me can face an attacker and prevail if, God forbid, I am ever put in that situation again. In my own life, I remember the peace of mind and sense of security I felt when I got my handgun carry permit. Every law abiding woman deserves that same right.”

In an ideal world, Black said, gun policy “would honor the right of every law abiding citizen to make their own decisions with respect to firearms. We would continue to use the National Instant Criminal Background Check system, just as we have all along, to prevent the sale of weapons to violent criminals, but we would also uphold the right to due process and not use faulty ‘watch lists’ or subjective terms like ‘assault weapon’ to deny Americans a Constitutionally protected freedom.”

In this ideal world, “We would pass the National Right to Carry Reciprocity Act, so that gun owners can take their weapons with them wherever they may travel without worrying about running afoul of a local law, and we would curtail the use of ‘gun free zones’ so that citizens aren’t sitting ducks in the face of a deranged gunman.”