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"On Thursday morning, Mother Jones published a deeply disturbing story about how gun extremists seem to be specifically targeting women with angry and threatening action. In the piece, Jennifer Longdon, an inspiring woman who is confined to a wheelchair after a random shooting, tells the story of having a man spit in her face after she participated in a gun safety event. He recognized her image on a television report in an airport, and according to Mother Jones, his response was to spit on her. We all know that people have very different opinions when it comes to gun control. But when those opinions escalate to random acts of aggression toward people with different views&amp;amp;mdash;much less a woman with different views who is in a wheelchair because she was shot&amp;amp;mdash;well, I think it&amp;#x27;s fair to say there&amp;#x27;s a big problem. Unfortunately, this is not the first such attack Longdon, who works with Everytown for Gun Safety, has experienced, reports Mother Jones. According to the story, she was approached at a gun-buyback event in her hometown of Phoenix by a group of men. The altercation allegedly went like this: &amp;quot;You know what was wrong with your shooting?&amp;quot; one said, &amp;quot;They didn&amp;#x27;t aim better.&amp;quot; Mother Jones reports that another man told Longdon, &amp;quot;I know who you are,&amp;quot; and recited her home address. Things have gotten particularly bad in parts of Texas, where a group called Open Carry Texas&amp;amp;mdash;members like to pull stunts like walking into fast-food restaurants in groups toting guns&amp;amp;mdash;reportedly started stalking and harassing a teacher who (while on her way to shop at the mall) called the police after she saw a bunch of people toting guns on a major thoroughfare. It turned out to be a demonstration, but it&amp;#x27;s not unreasonable that she felt intimidated. If you listen to the call, she reports five or six people walking on a busy road while carrying assault weapons. While you&amp;#x27;re legally allowed to openly carry weapons in Texas, you&amp;#x27;re also allowed to call the police if you see a bunch of people walking down the street with guns. During the call, the dispatcher&amp;amp;mdash;for the police&amp;amp;mdash;actually encourages her to call 911! The woman was targeted (the information on these calls is public) with dozens of phone calls calling her a &amp;quot;stupid bitch&amp;quot; and a &amp;quot;motherfucking whore.&amp;quot; Due to the rise of moms against guns groups, many extremists apparently see women as the new enemy. Even women who grew up hunting and aren&amp;#x27;t involved in the gun-control movement are targets. Plano police confirmed to Mother Jones that they&amp;#x27;d received two other complaints about the group of men walking around town with their assault weapons, both from men. Neither were targeted or called. Sandy Philips, who lost her 24-year-old daughter Jessica when she was killed in the Aurora, Colorado theater shooting, and is now campaign manager for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, told me, &amp;quot;The opposition claims to represent everyday gun owners like myself, but the reality paints a much different picture, beginning with these disrespectful incidents meant only to intimidate and stoke paranoia.&amp;quot; Much like many of the women who are being threatened while pushing for gun control, I grew up with guns and many of my relatives are avid hunters. I have nothing but respect for anyone hunting for sustenance&amp;amp;mdash;anyone who eats meat shouldn&amp;#x27;t be afraid of hunting&amp;amp;mdash;and I think many women feel the same way. And lots don&amp;#x27;t, which is also totally fine. But if hearing a dissenting opinion makes you believe you&amp;#x27;re entitled to curse at, harass, spit upon, and threaten someone, you should take a good, hard look at your life. &amp;quot;Women have been movers and shakers in the fight for stronger commonsense gun laws, going back to the Million Mom March and they continue to play a key role in the grassroots movement today,&amp;quot; Phillips says. &amp;quot;The corporate gun lobby&amp;#x27;s efforts to intimidate and disrupt our daily lives only serve to rally us more and to raise our voices as gun owners who will speak up for commonsense gun laws and responsible behaviors that can make this nation safer.&amp;quot; I still remember feeling extremely emotional hearing about Jessica after the shooting in Aurora. An aspiring journalist, avid Twitter user, and fun-loving redhead, she seemed like someone who could be my friend. And really, she could have been any of us. How many more people have to die before can we have a real conversation about gun safety, one that doesn&amp;#x27;t include senseless attacks on the very people who want to make a dire situation better?"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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