Ken Cuccinelli's defeat in the race for Virginia governor has mainstream Republicans calling Tea Partiers fanatics and Tea Partiers calling mainstreamers RINOS (Republicans In Name Only). The only thing they agree about is their hopes for the 2014 elections are kaput and they might as well start thinking about 2016.
Many attribute the Cuccinelli defeat to the women's vote. Funny how women won't vote for a politician who promises to take their rights away. Aren't Republicans watching the rise of Texas state Senator Wendy Davis?
But Cuccinelli's guns-everywhere/no restrictions NRA platform is also a women's issue. Intimate partner homicide increases by 500 percent when a firearm is present and almost always it is the woman who is killed. Women are three times as likely to be shot and killed by gun-wielding intimate partners than by strangers. During his campaign, Cuccinelli tactlessly promoted gun rights at Virginia Tech where 32 were killed. He opposes universal background checks, closing the gun show loophole and wants to see guns in clubs and restaurants. Cuccinelli has an "A" rating from the NRA which likely got him an "F" rating from women voters.
Despite its tough talk against criminals, the NRA works hard to keep abusers armed because sales are $ales. According to the New York Time s, the NRA and other gun-rights groups "have beaten back legislation mandating the surrender of firearms in domestic violence situations . They argue that gun ownership, as a fundamental constitutional right, should not be stripped away for anything less serious than a felony conviction-- and certainly not, as an N.R.A. lobbyist in Washington State put it to legislators, for the 'mere issuance of court orders.'" What?
The NRA got another black eye this week besides Cuccinelli's defeat. Maribeth D'Alauro, wife of Richard D'Alauro, NRA field rep for New York City, came out for background checks to prevent domestic abusers from buying guns. "I was being bullied," the mother of three says of her marriage to the NRA honcho. In 2010, D'Alauro was charged with assault and endangering the welfare of a child and a noncriminal charge of harassment to which he pleaded guilty, reports the New York Daily News, Police removed 39 pistols, shotguns and rifles from D'Alauro's Long Island home. Hey, we have the right to keep an arsenal. Maybe he was expecting 39 intruders! Police had to return to the home because there were even more guns and ammunition on the premises.
Of course guns protect women too, bellows the NRA. Just like guns protect conceal carriers when the mugger is a block away, High Noon style, there is no element of surprise and the mugger doesn't use the gun on the carrier . In point of fact, "gun defense" often goes horribly wrong in the same way for women. Three women were killed with their own guns just in October in the US according to news reports. Thank you, NRA.
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