Emily Peck on Wednesday published a piece in HuffPost entitled, “The Constitution Gives Gun Owners Greater Rights Than Women,” and the tweet-thread promoting the piece kicked off like this:
Gun owners in the United States, a majority of whom are men, have better constitutional rights than women. https://t.co/n431eWltpE (1/7)
— HuffPost (@HuffPost) March 8, 2018
The problem with that thesis — among many — is that Peck assumes that the Second Amendment is a “man’s” right, a fallacy she eventually tackles like this:
Of course, the Second Amendment applies to all Americans. But is there really any doubt that guns are unabashedly, toxically masculine? Recent efforts by the National Rifle Association and gun manufacturers to market weapons to women haven’t done much to change this. Thirty-nine percent of men said they own a gun, in a recent Pew survey, compared with 22 percent of women. Of course, Second Amendment rights have traditionally been a liberty fully enjoyed mostly by white men ― and the stats reflect this: 48 percent of those guys own a gun.
So, because more men own guns (and not by as large a margin as many might assume), men have more rights in the Constitution.
All of this is to somehow fight for an Equal Rights Amendment, but citing the Second Amendment certainly isn’t the way to do it, “toxic masculinity” aside.
Dreck. Women are afforded the same rights. That the majority of gun owners are men says something about gun-owning preferences by gender, but it's not because men have "better" rights. https://t.co/O5kvAQh0hZ
— Keith Maniac, from Guatemala (@CutItOutPutin) March 8, 2018
So why does that mean they have ‘less rights’ then? Is there a law that says women aren’t allowed to own guns?
— Jo Marney (@Jo_Marney) March 8, 2018
https://twitter.com/BanditMode/status/971790603544481792
So? That's our right to own or not own guns. You can't say that men benefit more from the 2nd Amendment than women do when both make the conscious decision themselves on whether or not they want to own one. I'm using my right equally in choosing to not own one as a man who does.
— Vikki (@Pumpkin3141592) March 8, 2018
https://twitter.com/RoscoenOtis/status/971785855902867456
Idiotic and ignorant statement of the day. https://t.co/MkqmdhB4cl
— Rob Wade #Authentic (@RobertCFP) March 8, 2018
Related:
Watch toxic masculinity work: Vice is freaked out the NRA wants to — wait for it — 'put guns in the hands of women' https://t.co/cwKoG7zS3A
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) February 24, 2018
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