The Women’s March’s hypocritical shot at the NRA

In a world where protesting is the new brunch, the organizers of the Women’s March on Washington have recently released details for their latest protest. On July 14, organizers and sympathizers will be marching 18 miles through the unforgiving D.C. heat and humidity from the National Rifle Association headquarters in Fairfax, Va., to the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.

A Facebook event for the march claims the NRA is a “direct endorsement of violence against women” and even encourages activists to practice their First Amendment rights while demanding the NRA “take down the recent irresponsible and dangerous advertisement videos from all social platforms immediately.” Additionally, the Women’s March claims that their movement “will proudly and bravely continue to strive for the respect of the civil and human rights of all people.”

Of course, that respect is not extended to the rights of women with right-of-center values or female gun owners.

The NRA has a knack for releasing compelling videos promoting the Second Amendment for all Americans. Of particular note is the Freedom’s Safest Place series that features a variety of gun-loving women like Dana Loesch, Antonia Okafor and Kimberly Corban. Most recently, a video featuring conservative talk radio host Grant Stinchfield sent liberals in a tizzy for addressing their blatant hypocrisy, leading to the creation of the Women’s March’s most recent protest efforts.

The Left clings to the tired, overused and blatantly false narrative that the NRA promotes violence, and this is further reiterated by Women’s March organizers. What organizers did not realize — or perhaps conveniently chose to forget — was that their own supporters have done exactly what they accuse the NRA of doing.

At the inaugural Women’s March, Donna Hylton was a featured speaker who had done jail time for kidnapping, raping, torturing and murdering Thomas Vigliarolo, a 62-year-old gay man from New York.

Another speaker, Angela Davis, is famous for making the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List as a fugitive from charges of involvement in a violent courtroom takeover and hostage situation, in which a California judge was murdered. Davis was eventually acquitted of involvement in the plot, but the reason she went on trial was that she had (here it comes) purchased the guns that two days later were used in this lethal plot by others.

One of the organizers of the march, Rasmea Yousef Odeh, was responsible for a bombing in a Jerusalem market when she was a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Pop music icon Madonna even said in her speech that she had “thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House.”

Second Amendment education and safety are one of many constructive tools that can be used to empower women. Unfortunately, that seems to be a foreign concept to the modern feminist movement. The Women’s March Facebook event capitalizes on fear, stating, “We know that we are not safe. But we will not be intimidated into silence.” Instead of further perpetrating a culture of victimhood, teaching women self-defense and how to properly handle a firearm can do far more for their safety and empowerment than a protest ever would.

It seems that the Women’s March did manage to get one thing right — marchers are well within their right to protest peacefully. Not only is it their constitutional right, but it should also be encouraged for the sake of fostering a diverse marketplace of ideas. However, protesting must not come at the expense of silencing others.

There is an old saying that “God created men and women, but Samuel Colt made them equal.” As a woman who happens to be an NRA member, I can’t help but think the organizers of the march have not considered all that women stand to gain from learning how to properly handle a gun. Women — and specifically women of color — are the fastest-growing demographic of gun owners. Why? Because women have the need, the desire and the constitutional right to protect themselves.

Taylor McCarty is a conservative media strategist and commentator in Washington, D.C.

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