ROCHELLEKaplan
• the armed woman
The Year of the Woman
Just look at the faces in politics this
year. Boy, have they changed since I
started voting many decades ago.
Back then, female candidates were
few and far between and the vast majority were liberal and/or Democrats.
While I tended to vote along those
lines at that time—I was born into
a Democrat family—it didn’t bother
me that most of the candidates were
men. All of my friends were proud
liberals and progressives, longing for
the day when there would be more
women running for office.
Indeed, one of those friends, a
self-righteous, Primal Therapy
practicing feminist, used to boast that she
Some are calling 2010 the Year of the Woman. I say it’s about time. Recent state primaries got me thinking
about how true this statement is.
cared not one iota about a male candidate’s platform (or even his party),
voting only for any and all women
on the ballot. She truly believed that
this would be the great equalizer in
society. As a gullible 18-year-old, I
was impressed with her astute thinking. (Of course, that was until I discovered that the great equalizer in
society is an armed woman!)
What a difference three decades
makes! Nowadays, not only are there
numerous women running for high
offices, but many of them are Republicans. Fourteen Republican women
are running this year for the U.S.
Senate, compared with just three Re-
publican women in 2008, according
to the Center for American Women
and Politics. Two years ago during
the primaries, only 46 Republican
women were vying for House seats.
This year’s primary has 94 running.
Overall, 60 of the 106 women who are
challenging incumbents for House
seats are Republicans.
More important than simply voting along party lines, I want to be assured that the candidates I vote for
(male or female) represent my overall values. High on that list must be
their passionate support of the Second Amendment.
With that in mind, of particular
interest to me was the Orange Coun-
ty (California) Sheriff’s race, which
pitted two men against one (interim
appointed) woman: Sandra Hutch-
ens, with a stellar, 30-plus year law
enforcement career. Unfortunately,
I could not cast my vote for her be-
cause she is on record stating that
while she would not prevent law
abiding citizens from owning guns,
she would limit people who would
be allowed to carry them in public.
“Good cause could include people
whose jobs place them in danger—
such as jewelers who might be rob-
bery targets—or people whose lives
have been threatened.”
I supported one of her two chal-
lengers, Bill Hunt, the former Lieu-
tenant and Chief of Police of San Cle-
mente, Calif. (where I live) because
he is, and always has been, an ardent
supporter of the Second Amend-
ment. He promised to issue CCW’s
“to any applicant who is a law abid-
ing resident of the county, meets state
mandated requirements and is not
prohibited by law from possessing
a firearm.” To his way of thinking,
“Personal protection is good cause!”
Regrettably, Hunt lost to Hutch-
ens, so it’s back to the status quo in
Orange County, I fear. Why Hutch-
ens thinks that only those citizens
