Gun Owners of America has a women’s outreach program called Empowered 2A. The program is designed to educate people – especially women – about their options when it comes to self-defense. GOA asserts the fact that self-defense is a human right, and they subscribe to the motto: “Gun Rights Are Women’s Rights.”
Meet Terra Semaia
Terra Semaia, a recent and new contributor to the pages of News2A, and I had a chat about the Empowered 2A program. Learn about her journey in becoming a gun rights activist, what brought her to Gun Owners of America, and what the volunteer coordinator has going on.
You can tune into my conversation with Semaia or watch it in the embed above.
GOA EVP John Velleco Weighs in
In a separate interview, not included in the embedded video, I spoke with GOA Executive Vice President John Velleco about the program. Velleco stressed the importance that there’s an alternative for women out there who want safety. Empowered 2A is that alternative. All too often, the anti-gun mom groups say that they’re all about protecting children.
“Sign me up! Of course, we want to protect children!” Velleco said. “And if that’s all you know is [that they] want to protect children from violence, then who would oppose that?”
A Real Solution
Empowered 2A is not just a counternarrative, but rather a salient and real alternative for people who want to take responsibility for their own wellbeing. The tired lines that groups like Moms Demand, Everytown, Giffords, Brady United, etc. all preach are grossly misinforming the public at large. Pushing rhetoric that restricting rights will provide the safety and protection that people desire is saccharine and dishonest.
“No, if you want safety, if you want security – you need empowerment,” Velleco said. “And what [the anti-gun groups are] asking for is the opposite. But we want them to know that.”
Let’s Hit the Range
Part of Empowered 2A’s outreach involves range days. It’s at those sessions that Gun Owners of America gets to interact with the public and introduce those first time shooters to firearms.
“We want to challenge any mom out there, any person in particular, [that] if you’re afraid of guns for whatever reason, or you have zero experience, let’s go out to the range. Let’s talk about it. Let’s go shooting,” Velleco closed with. “And maybe it will change your perspective. Maybe it won’t, but at least you’ll know what all of your options are.”
For More Information…
If you want to learn more information about Empowered 2A, head over to: GunOwners.org/Empowered/.
