Perhaps the Hillary Clinton appointee to the 15-member Democrat Platform Committee, Bonnie Schaefer, was simply telling us how she feels when she said, “I really don’t personally think anyone should have a gun. Nothing is ever solved when you have a gun in your hand, except the worst possible scenario.”
The thing is, when we dig deeper into who Schaefer is and what she is now doing, it becomes clear this isn’t just about her personal feelings with regards to our right to bear arms.
Schaefer aired her desire for a gun ban and confiscation on a national scale during a discussion about gun violence in relation to the Democratic Party’s 2016 platform at the Mid-Atlantic Democratic Platform Forum in Washington, D.C.
The Democrats have been holding a series of meetings around the United States to get input as they write the party’s official platform, which they will unveil at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia July 25-28. It seems politically unlikely that Schaefer’s gun-confiscation dream will make the official platform, but steps in that direction are already on Hillary Clinton’s official position page on her website. Clinton says she is for another “assault weapons” ban; that she would work to repeal the Protection of Lawful of Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA); and that she wants a required “universal” background check (which would likely move us toward a national gun-owner list).
So who is Bonnie Schaefer? She is a former co-CEO and co-chairman (with her sister) of the board of Claire’s Stores Inc., a leading retailer that sells costume jewelry and accessories to teenagers. They sold Claire’s in 2007 for around $3 billion.So Schaefer is a self-described feminist who wants to ban a tool that can make any woman physically equal to any man?
Schaefer has said, “I was married to a very violent man ... but it didn’t occur to me that I could live on my own and be a strong woman until I began to see more and more of a presence of that strong woman … embodied in Gloria Steinem; I thought wow, who is this woman, I need to listen to her; it gave me the strength to walk away from a horrible situation.”
Schaefer now owns a luxury spa resort in the mountains of North Carolina. When asked by Appalachian magazine why she is a feminist, Schaefer said, “I’m a feminist because I’ve had enough of being repressed and put down by men, including my ex-husband. I have had situations in my life that I’m not going to talk about but they have been oppressive. I’m a feminist because I believe that I have every right to have what every man has and more. How’s that?”
So Schaefer is a self-described feminist who wants to ban a tool that can make any woman physically equal to any man? She wants to prevent women from empowering themselves by utilizing their right to bear arms? She wants to tell rape victims and those who have been stalked that they are not allowed to use a tool that can protect them—even though this right is specifically protected in the U.S. Bill of Rights?
Quite a few women see Schaefer’s and Clinton’s contradictions for what they are.
Julie Gunlock, senior fellow and Culture of Alarmism director for the Independent Women’s Forum, says, “Guns provide women with the ultimate equalizer during violent confrontations. More often than not, the man is physically larger and more powerful than the women he's attacking. Guns reverse this inequality and give the woman a real chance at fighting back and protecting herself. If Hillary is elected, she’ll take that power away from women.”
Cheryl Todd, host of Gun Freedom Radio, said, “I applaud Schaefer, and all people—women and men—who survive adversity, and seek to throw off the oppression, abuse and restrictions of those who would have them live under the heel of their boot. Unfortunately, instead of empowering others to have the same opportunities as she was afforded, it seems Schaefer would oppress and restrict her fellow woman (and man). Anyone who has ever been victimized or marginalized in any way shape or form should be on the front lines of protecting and reclaiming every single syllable of every single sentence of every single constitutional right, including our right to self-protection enshrined in our Second Amendment.”
