Galling

Phyllis Schlafly’s Eagle Forum, one of the nation’s most strident far-right groups, on Friday praised Texas Sen. John Cornyn for trying to amend a proposed federal ban on assault weapons by exempting women who are victims of domestic violence. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted down Sen. Cornyn’s amendment, which would have exempted women granted protective orders as defined under the recently passed Violence Against Women Act.

“This Act would have ensured that women fearing for their safety would have the freedom to defend themselves effectively against possible attack, but the liberals put their unconstitutional anti-gun agenda above women’s safety,” Eagle Forum insists. Then the press release bizarrely turns to attacking the Violence Against Women Act itself as “dangerous” and “ineffective.”

The release also fails to note that victims of domestic violence would still have access to thousands of other firearms, just not 157 specific military-style assault weapons. And in praising Sen. Cornyn, Eagle Forum fails to acknowledge that he voted against the Violence Against Women Act. (Sen. Cornyn has also praised himself for adding an anti-rape measure to the Violence Against Women Act — before then voting against the act itself. Now that’s chutzpah.)