In the wake of Sunday’s horrific attack on music fans in Las Vegas, many are reaching for the right words to make sense of what happened.
And as the mass shooting has inevitably revived the gun control debate, a quote made popular by feminist activist Gloria Steinem comparing the laws around guns and abortion has once again gone viral.
The words, which have widely been attributed to Gloria herself despite her having clarified that ‘this riff is not mine,’ suggest that the regulations around gun ownership should match those in place for abortion.
Fighting the fight: A quote shared by Gloria Steinem in 2015 has gone viral again in the wake of the Las Vegas massacre
All over: The words have been repeatedly attributed to Gloria herself, though in her original post she clarifies that they are not hers
‘I want any young men who buy a gun to be treated like young women who seek an abortion,’ the quote reads.
‘Think about it: a mandatory 48-hours waiting period, written permission from a parent or a judge, a note from a doctor proving that he understands what he is about to do, time spent watching a video on individual and mass murders, traveling hundreds of miles at his own expense to the nearest gun shop, and walking through protesters holding photos of loved ones killed by guns, protester who call him a murderer.’
It adds: ‘After all, it makes more sense to do this for young men seeking guns than for young women seeking an abortion. No young woman needing reproductive freedom has ever murdered a roomful of strangers.’
Hand to heart: Gloria originally posted the words as a part of her ‘Top Ten Things I Want For Christmas’ list in 2015
The lot: She made multiple other political points in the list
Gloria shared the words as a part of a list of ‘Top Ten Things I Want For Christmas’ back in 2015, adding that she found this quote online but didn’t know who had originally said it.
The original Christmas-time post also included nine other points, many of them similarly political.
In the first, she hits out at then-candidate Donald Trump for leading the Birther movement against President Obama, demanding he apologize for ‘daring to rate women as no longer Tens when he himself has never been a One,’ filing for bankruptcy and for ‘setting the hair weave industry all the way back to Rogaine.’
Turning up: She also hit out at then-candidate Donald Trump and praised Black Lives Matter and President Obama in the post
She went on to blast the government for overspending on prisons as well as incarcerating far too many citizens as well as for leaving millions of citizens in crippling debt.
She also praised Black Lives Matter and President Obama in the post, expressing her wonder at how Obama survived against ‘ultra-right-wingers who, if they had cancer, and Obama had the cure, wouldn’t accept it.’
Gloria first debuted the list during an appearance on musical group BETTY’s holiday show in benefit of their The BETTY Effect organization, which focuses on empowering women and LGBTQ community members through music.