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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2013
WWW.DAILYAZTEC.COM
VOLUME 99, ISSUE 72
Feminism enters the gun control debate
feb 18, 2013
MONday
SDSU looks for redemption against Wyoming
campus Alicia Chavez Staff Writer
As controversial debates about gun legislation continue to hold Congress’ attention, both sides of the issue are turning to women to strengthen the appeal of the arguments. Activist Gayle Trotter of the Independent Women’s Forum and former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords were among the strongest voices during the Senate hearings. Giffords argued to increase gun restrictions after her congressional career was ended by a bullet wound to the head nearly two years ago. However, it was Trotter who took a conservative perspective on the issue and defended the right of women to carry a firearm for protection. “For women, the ability to arm ourselves for our protection is even more consequential than for men, because guns are the great equalizer in a violent confrontation,” Trotter said at the Senate hearing. “As a result, we protect women by safeguarding our Second Amendment rights.” Women’s arguments about the issue have caught the attention of San Diego State political science professor Ronnee Schreiber and author of “Righting Feminism: Conservative Women and American Politics.”
Terence Chin Staff Writer
San Diego State political science professor and author of the book “Righting Feminism: Conservative Women and American Politics” Ronnee Schreiber talks about the gun control debate.
Schreiber believes it’s important for women’s organizations and feminist activists to coalesce the issue. Schreiber says it is necessary to have a broad group of organizations speaking from a women’s point of view. “These women are speaking from a perspective that they actually believe is true and no one is making them do it. They’re representing women and they’re rep-
resenting their organization and they’re representing their beliefs,” Schreiber told KPBS. Coincidentally, women’s arguments on both sides of the issue are using the appeal of mothers to sway public opinion. Conservative women feel they need guns to protect themselves and their children. From a more liberal perspective, women believe strengthening gun restrictions is necessary to increase
paige nelson , photo editor
children’s safety. “The public opinion generally speaking among women favors more restrictions,” Schreiber said. A majority of women are in favor of gun restrictions that would take military style weapons off the streets and even believe further gun legislation is necessary, according GUN DEBATE continued on page 2
Meteorite hits Russia, injures thousands
campus
Russian citizens sweep glass off the streets, the result of broken windows, atfer the meteor explosion. The total energy of the impact was compared to that of 20 atomic bombs.
Will Houston Staff Writer
Last Friday, the skies above Russia’s Ural Mountains were set ablaze by a meteorite that had many Russian citizens believing Judgement Day was upon them. The estimated 10-ton meteorite broke apart in the atmosphere near the city of Chelyabinsk and resulted in more than $33 million worth of property damage in more than 4,000 buildings in the
region, according to The Weather Channel. Approximately 1,200 people were injured from the impact, mainly lacerations as a result of flying glass. Many are still being treated in hospitals. “If the meteor, which exploded above us, was just a little bigger, it’s hard to imagine what could have happened to our towns and villages,” Chelyabinsk Gov. Mikhail Yurevich told Russia Today.
andrei ladygin /russian look / zuma press /mct
The total energy of the impact was compared to that of 20 atomic bombs—enough force to blow out the windows of thousands of buildings and collapse part of a factory roof. President Vladimir Putin quickly responded to the event and organized a cleanup group of more than 20,000 members of the nation’s civil offense service and seven aircrafts. With freezing temperatures, the replacement of broken windows and walls has
been their primary focus. The unexpected cosmic visitor entered Earth’s atmosphere at 64,000 km per hour just as the 2012 DA14 asteroid was sweeping by our planet. NASA scientists have confirmed the two events are not correlated. Russia is no stranger to meteorite impacts and their devastating consequences. In 1908, an event known as the Tunguska explosion occurred when a meteorite broke apart five miles above Earth’s surface and uprooted 80 million trees in central Siberia. Although the more recent meteorite didn’t cause as much catastrophic damage as the Tunguska event, the Russian government is calling for an international asteroid defense system that could prevent further unexpected catastrophes from occurring. Vitaly Davydov, the deputy head of Russia’s federal space agency, told local Russian media planetary defense will become a “priority” for Russia in the coming years. The intrusion of meteorites in daily human life is not a common phenomenon. But when one does slip through Earth’s atmospheric defenses and dawns its fiery trail upon the skies, it bestows a stark reminder of the chaotic forces that inhabit our cosmos—the place we call home.
Frontcourt Aztecs: Sophomore JJ O’Brien is coming off his best game after a 15-point and 11-rebound performance against the University of Nevada, Las Vegas this weekend. Senior DeShawn Stephens still has yet to have a breakout performance in conference play, while freshman Skylar Spencer has scored in double figures just once this season. PREVIEW continued on page 5
a.s. event schedule A.S. EVENTS continued on page 2
The Love Guru drops some more knowledge
LOVE GURU continued on page 4