By DORY MacMILLAN – Viewpoints Editor
Washington D.C. lawyer and fervent supporter of gun rights Gayle Trotter has become the hero of women rights in the past weeks.
Guns are “the great equalizer” for women, according to Trotter, since most women are physically smaller and weaker than men.
“Gun reform laws might not let young women protect their babies if there’s an intruder,” says Trotter.
Though, of course, gun reform laws would not keep mothers from protecting their children. Instead, these laws would remove weapons from those with the intent to do harm to others, to hopefully stop the tragic shootings that have poisoned the United States for the last several decades.
And, Gayle Trotter is not the great protector of women. In fact, according to the New York Times, her law firm is “a right-wing public policy that provides pseudofeminist support for extreme positions that are in fact dangerous for women.”
One such dangerous position is Trotter’s opposition of the Violence Against Women Act. As a proponent of efforts to protect women from violence, it seems counterintuitive to actively oppose a law intended to do just that.
Trotter believes that “there is [not] one solution to protect women from violence. Looking at one particular cause of violence is not going to solve anything; we need to address the many causes.”
Instead of specifically addressing causes of violence, it doesn’t make sense to make general blanket statements without clear action.
As a liberal, I disagree with those who oppose any gun control. But it is not for this reason that I oppose Gayle Trotter.
As a woman, my role in the 21st century is uncertain and constantly changing. Sure, Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State, but many women are still underrepresented and underpaid—in fact, women make 77 cents for every dollar a man makes.
And it’s women like Gayle Trotter—those “pseudofeminists” that pretend to champion women but really champion laissez faire policy—that are continuing to hold women back.
Guns are not the great equalizer. They don’t level the playing field. In fact, in a 2006 Gallup poll, 49 percent of women claimed they feel less safe with a gun in the house, ten percent more than the 39% of women who feel safer.
If gender equality falls to who is able to pack the bigger gun, this country is destined for failure.
Gender equality comes from education, from equal pay and fair opportunity.
And while I understand that gun rights is part of this equality, it is ridiculous and offensive to say that gun reform is unnecessary and infringes upon women rights.
Trotter might see herself as protecting civil liberties, but the only trigger she is pulling is one that sets women—and society—back as we aim for equality.
