NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch says she's under attack for supporting the 2nd Amendment – attacks so vile that even gun-control advocate and actress Alyssa Milano is condemning them.
On Sunday, Loesch, a conservative commentator, took to Twitter with the hashtag “me too.” The phrase, inspired by the Harvey Weinstein scandal, encouraged women to share their stories of sexual harassment and assault on social media. Loesch used the hashtag in a similar, but different way: to warn that gun control advocates were threatening sexual assault – and her life – for her support of the 2nd Amendment.
Attached to a picture of stuffed trash bags, Loesch tweeted Sunday evening, “#MeToo. Spent my weekend preparing to move due to repeated threats from gun control advocates.”
#MeToo.
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) October 16, 2017
Spent my weekend preparing to move due to repeated threats from gun control advocates. 1 pic.twitter.com/cQoZzOYXPt
She called out three specific threats against her.
One man, she said, “hunted down” her cell phone number and “threatened to shoot me in my front yard.” Another posted pictures of her house while threatening to “rape me to death.” One not only threatened her, but also her children.
3 Another guy created a string of social media accounts, posted photos of my house, threatened to rape me to death. #MeToo
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) October 16, 2017
4 Another gun control advocate, after threatening to hunt me down and assault me, dragged my kids into it. #MeToo
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) October 16, 2017
“I’m grateful that my kids’ school worked with law enforcement and private security to ensure campus safety, and work with me,” she added.
6 I’ve only ever discussed these issues kinda vaguely. More I can’t discuss. I and other 2A women are sexually threatened regularly #MeToo
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) October 16, 2017
But she wasn’t the only target. “I and other 2A [2nd Amendment] women are sexually threatened regularly,” she stressed.
In response, she hoped that other Americans would “drop the ideological boundaries and not cherry-pick concern.” She pointed to Weinstein as an example.
8 When you think of it, it’s amazing/sad to see the treatment of women on social media who do not identify as progressive.
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) October 16, 2017
“I see conservative women regularly abused on social media by some of the same people slamming Weinstein,” she continued. “The culture is only non-conservative women deserve respect. It’s idiotic, demonstrated daily, and deserving of more than 140 chars.”
10 The culture is only non-conservative women deserve respect. It’s idiotic, demonstrated daily, and deserving of more than 140 chars.
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) October 16, 2017
She criticized feminists for failing to support true equality.
“If ‘inequality’ was truly a concern for modern feminists, they’d defend, not shame, women for making choices antithetical 2 progressivism,” Loesch tweeted. Instead, she said, “they sold out by tying their cause to party & don’t defend conserv women as strategy.”
12 But they sold out by tying their cause to party & don’t defend conserv women as strategy. Some sexism is ok if it silences conservatives
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) October 16, 2017
“Some sexism is ok if it silences conservatives,” she argued.
14 Anyway, this is why I get heated about this. Have experienced first hand and witnessed other women endure the same.
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) October 16, 2017
And regardless your party or ideology, it’s your right, whether you excercise it or not. I will always defend that for all.
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) October 16, 2017
While some Twitter users attacked Loesch for “using #MeToo thread to promote 2A,” many others came to her defense, including those who described themselves as “anti-gun.”
The most high-profile response came from actress and vocal Democrat Alyssa Milano (Charmed, Mistresses). She wholeheartedly supported Loesch.
Many face the threat of gun violence and sexual assault at the same time.
— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) October 16, 2017
“Thank you for pointing out that sexual assault survivors come from all walks of life,” Milano tweeted at Loesch. “Many face the threat of gun violence and sexual assault at the same time. This should happen to no one, and our differences do not matter when this kind of violence becomes a reality.”
This should happen to no one, and our differences do not matter when this kind of violence becomes a reality.
— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) October 16, 2017
While Milano calls for gun control and dislikes the NRA (and is aware of Loesch’s work with the group), she owns a gun herself.