Things didn't go exactly as planned for Representative Duncan Hunter (R-CA).
Hunter is a very outspoken critic of allowing women to serve in ground combat roles in the military and, to that end, he introduced an amendment to require women to register for the draft.
Hunter thought this would force his colleagues on the House Armed Services Committee to consider the idea and soundly reject it, but that's not what happened.
The Armed Services Committee, which includes 12 women, passed Rep. Hunter's amendment.
"While you may be offering this as a gotcha amendment," Rep. Jackie Spier (D-CA) said. "I would suggest that there is great merit in recognizing that each of us have an obligation to be willing to serve our country in time of war."
Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-MA) said "gender equality is achieved when women and men enjoy the same rights, the same opportunities and the same obligations across all sectors of society and that includes military service."
It seems unlikely to me that Hunter's amendment will survive a vote by the full House or Senate and be signed by the president, but if that does occur he will be responsible for it.
I agree with Reps. Spier and Tsongas and their expert trolling of Rep. Hunter is commendable. So-called Men's Rights Activist, who are actually nothing more than misogynists, routinely use the existence of the draft as proof of bias against men. Compelling women to register for the draft would rob MRAs of a dumb talking point, but the draft will never happen again. That's why it's a dumb talking point to begin with.
I can't say Rep. Duncan Hunter is an MRA, but his insistence that women cannot handle the horrors of war certainly places him in their wheelhouse.