Bullets First had the pleasure of hitting the road this week and making our way to Mount Holyoke College to hear Antonia Okafor give a comprehensive and detailed defense of why the 2nd Amendment is for everyone no matter race, ideology, gender or location. One place that Ms. Okafor is most adamant about where guns should be allowed are on college campuses so that women, who would otherwise be empowered to defend themselves against an attacker are not left at the mercy of those who would do them harm.
Apparently, not wanting to be raped is a controversial topic at nearby Hampshire college where, on the previous night, Ms. Okafor was to give an address but had it cancelled within 2 hours of her taking the stage with the lame excuse of the Hampshire Administration that female empowerment is “too controversial.” In the following video Antonia goes into some specifics of what Hampshire had told her in defense of their anti-speech, unprofessional behavior.
But this article isn’t about Hampshire College’s bigotry but rather the open mindedness and welcoming air that can be found at Mount Holyoke College. Before the event began I had the chance to speak with Elizabeth Conlisk, the Interim Chief of Communications and Marketing at Holyoke about having Antonia come and deliver her speech. Now, with a provocative name like Bullets First I have had some experience of those not of like mind giving me the cold shoulder but Ms. Conlisk was anything but. She championed the dialogue that could be found when people of differing opinions are exposed to each other. And while conservative speakers may not be the norm at Mount Holyoke, from what I saw while there, they are not unwelcome.
The College Republicans at Mount Holyoke reserved a room with a capacity of I believe 150 people or so and at a fast count they came close to maxing out what the room could hold. Security was on hand as well, since living in the age of Antifa you never know when some progressive radical is going to try and silence free speech with violence but I am happy to report, outside of one heckler who didn’t initially deem it worth her time to walk down the steps to ask questions where the microphones were, the event went off very respectfully between those who might otherwise oppose the viewpoints of Antonia and the College Republicans.
Ms. Okafor’s speech was interspersed with some videos highlighting her history as a first generation American whose family hails from Nigeria. How she evolved from being an Obama voter to a person who the former President said would cling to her bible and guns. Her speech takes the listener on the twists of the road of someone who does not grow up with guns in her life to someone who now is one of the leading champions of ensuring everyone has the right to.
Even for me, someone who has written about Antonia in the past and shared some range time with her, I found her tale both compelling and informative as I learned things of where she was coming from that I was unaware of. I’ve no doubt that what she says is right when she opines that her story is not isolated but one of many whose voices heretofore may have been silent but will continue to rise until the cacophony of empowerment through the exercise of the 2nd Amendment cannot be denied.
Women are the fastest growing demographic of new gun owners in the country. And with champions who will not stay silent, who will bring the fight to the places where those ideas have gone unheard for too long, Antonia Okafor is signalling a call to arms, so to speak, saying that the fight for your right to defend yourself must be waged outside of echo chambers and those of like minds to inform the uninitiated and to demystify the “Hollywood effect” that so many non gun owners have been mislead with. Case in point, a suppressor does not make a gun go pew pew. Just sayin.
I filmed the entire event but unfortunately, do to some live streamer who felt the need to sit next to my camera AFTER I did the sound check, there are points where static feedback is present. It’s not omnipresent and I cut out the worst of it where I could but just a heads up.
Here’s the video of Antonia’s speech, a few of her Q&A’s, you may hear a familiar voice in there talking about Clarence Thomas (hint: It’s me), and finally some hot takes by those in attendance.
You heard the heckler shout out a few questions from the cheap seats. She would later come down and use the microphone and I was tempted to include her rambling nonsensical 5 minute diatribe but, she wasn’t being abrasive about it so I thought I would save her the embarrassment of showing…well…whatever she was trying to do.
But these are the reasons that Conservatives, Libertarian and Gun Owners need to keep coming to liberal campuses and sharing the idea that, yes, the 2nd Amendment is a good thing because it is a matter of freedom, safety and as Antonia likes to say, empowerment.
I sometimes worry that with the spats of violence by the anti speech gestapo Antifa, that those who lean right will hedge toward friendlier confines and thus make a Right version of the echo chamber that seems to plague the Left. Brave speakers like Antonia and welcoming venues like Mount Holyoke College are how we bring civility back into the dialogue and I, for one, was happy to see it first hand.
And I would be remiss is I didn’t give a shout out to Kassy Dillon and the College Republicans who put on a great event.
If you want to learn more about Antonia Okafor and her emPOWERed initiative you can check out her website at www.antoniaokafor.com
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