You don’t typically find a more left-leaning group than the cast of The View, but even this group of ladies saw the most recent Everytown For Gun Safety ad spot as a strong argument for woman to be armed.

Geoffrey Dickens at Newbusters has the transcript of the segment, which shows three of the four ladies (Sherri Shepherd, Jenny McCarthy and guest-host Juliet Huddy) coming out strongly in favor of women learning how to use firearms, and having safely stored firearms in the home to defend their families.

Even more remarkably, Shepherd and McCarthy attempted to convert Good Morning America co-host Lara Spencer to the side of gun ownership, after she revealed herself as the one lady on the panel who was didn’t want to have a firearm in her home.

LARA SPENCER: I have two kids. I would never want a gun in the house.

[crosstalk]

JENNY MCCARTHY: I’ve been in circumstances like Sherri where, you know people tried to break in and I’m with my son going, “I wish I had something to protect myself with.”

SHERRI SHEPHERD: I think that’s the thing when you’re standing there and if you’ve ever been in that situation where you have children and you go what do I have?

MCCARTHY to SPENCER: I used to think like you.

SHEPHERD to SPENCER: I used to think like you too. When you’re sitting there going-

SPENCER to MCCARTHY: What changed you?

MCCARTHY: That happened to me. They were trying to get in and I felt out of control and I had a child, and I was thinking to myself I wish I had a gun and I wish, you know, I have it very well protected now. There’s no way. Locked up.

SHEPHERD: Locked up, go to the gun range, know how to use it. There was a man who broke into a woman’s house. She was up in the attic. She had her two twins. He, as soon as he put his face in the attic she shot him. I betcha he’ll never try to break into that woman’s house again.

“Go to the gun range and learn how to use it.”

That’s the message that women of The View and their audience were left with after viewing Everytown’s ad of a defenseless woman who was killed because a restraining order was just a piece of paper.

We noted yesterday that even Everytown’s supporters largely came to the same conclusion after viewing the ad, and they said as much on Everytown’s Facebook page.

The same reaction to the video is apparent even on the heavily censored Facebook page of Mom’s Demand Action:

We expect the Mom’s Demand page to wind up “sanitized,” so don’t be surprised if many of those comments no longer exist if you follow the link.

Frankly, I’m not entirely sure what Everytown was hoping to accomplish with their ad.

[story continues on next page]

Presumably, they wanted to put an end to domestic violence. That’s great, and something that we all agree on.

Of course, what the ad actually showed was the failure of domestic violence laws and policies. The man in the ad already had a restraining order against him, stripping him of his right to own firearms.

Despite its intentions, what the ad actually showed is that:

• criminals intent on violent crime will ignore gun laws, and acquire firearms through the same criminal enterprises that smuggle illegal drugs.
• restraining orders are mere pieces of paper that stop only those who fear jail.
• a 911 call to law enforcement officers will not result in officers arriving in time to do anything other than process the crime scene.
• most women are not large or strong enough to successfully physically confront even an average-sized enraged male .

By pointing out these harsh truths, Everytown led people who viewed these ads to the inescapable truth stated by Wayne LaPierre of the National Rifle Association, that, “The only thing that stops a bad gun with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”

* * *

Now, no one is suggesting that firearms are the solutions to all problems. They are the solution to a very specific and thankfully rare problem of deadly force being used against good people. Firearms are defensive tools to be used in the most dire of circumstances, when precious lives are at stake. It simply makes sense to have such life-saving tools in your home, and for the responsible adults and older teens be educated in their proper use. It’s simply part of being a responsible parent.

In my home, both adults and our teenager are Red Cross CPR/First Aid/AED certified. We also keep fire extinguishers on each floor, and have smoke detectors throughout the house. It’s not because we anticipate anyone having a heart attack or suffering a serious injury, nor do we expect our home to erupt in flames. We view all these things and skill in their use as reasonable precautions against eventualities that happen to many people when they least expect it. We feel the same way about firearms ownership and self-defense, and so we’re frankly offended by the implication in Everytown’s ad.

The Everytown implication in this ad is that women should rely upon others for their safety. That is both condescending and sexist. It asserts that women need others to rescue them, and that they are not capable of defending themselves.

As a rifle marksmanship instructor with Project Appleseed, I know that mindset to be entirely false. The reality of my experience has been that it is often easier to teach women and attentive children to shoot well than it is many men (as a side note, I’d strongly encourage families, couples, and groups of friends to attend an Appleseed in your area. You’ll leave feeling empowered, after having met some of the nicest people you are ever likely to find).

As a husband and father, my wife and daughters are the center of my world. I would never willingly let any harm come to them. I’d even die to protect them… but I’d much rather deter or stop anyone attempting to harm them, and I want them to be able to defend themselves when I’m not around.

Eventually, children grow up and move away. It is the nature of things.

Good parents make sure that their children enter the world with the skills to survive.

My daughters and my wife know how to shoot not because they are necessarily shooting enthusiasts like I am, but because they understand that it is a life-saving skill, like CPR.

If we really love the women in our lives, shouldn’t we raise them to be self-rescuing princesses?