In a 2004 op/ed for his college newspaper, Andy Parrish--former chief of staff to Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann--wrote that gun control "indirectly causes hundreds of thousands of women to be raped every year" and that Democrats' "extreme arrogance" on this issue "does nothing but condone rape." Aaron Rupar of CityPages has posted a scan of Parrish's op/ed.
Parrish goes on to say that, in states with concealed carry laws, women use guns to fend off 200,000 attempted rapes every year. He apparently forgot to include the reference for the source of that statistic. Oh well. I'm sure he wouldn't be making shit up about something this important. He refers to Democratic support for gun control as the Mad Democrat Disease, "very similar to mad cow disease." LOL.
Here's what Parrish says about rape-promoting feminists:
Don't those silly women over at N.O.W. understand that this is a great way for women to defend themselves and stop being constant victims of men? You would think N.O.W. and other women's rights organizations wouldn't want men to be raping women but they must want these types of attacks since they don't want women to carry guns.
I'll bet the people at NOW are also putting women at risk of being raped by not sufficiently shaming them when they wear short skirts.
Parrish makes the argument that since physicians cause 120,000 accidental deaths each year, while only 1500 people die each year from accidental gun shots, guns must be safer than doctors. A Google search tells me that he is neither the first nor the only right-winger to make this argument. No holes in his logic, though.
After being let go by Bachmann in February of 2012, Parrish went on to become the deputy campaign manager of Minnesota for Marriage, the organization that ran the unsuccessful campaign to amend the Minnesota constitution to ban gay marriage. (Thanks for that one, Andy. Without the wingnut overreach on this issue, marriage equality might not have come to Minnesota so soon.) Parrish caused a bit of a stir among Minnesota GOP insiders earlier this year when his lawyer said he intended to testify in front of an Iowa ethics panel, telling them that Bachmann's presidential campaign made improper payments to an Iowa legislator, according to MinnPost.
Parrish recently became the campaign manager for GOP State Senator Juliane Ortman, one of three Republicans running for the chance to take on Senator Al Franken in 2014. It's not clear why she thinks hiring Andy Parrish is a good idea.
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The quote below from Parrish's op/ed is not really part of the misogyny that runs through the piece, but he makes an interesting point:
When was the last time you saw a gun load itself, jump off the table, walk into school and kill students all on its own?
I used to share Parrish's skepticism on this, but, after following the #gunfail Twitter hashtag for several months, I know that accidental shootings happen all the time seemingly without any human intervention.