Tyler, an avid Slog reader (and a fan of both Charles Mudede and e.e. cummings, apparently), emailed us the following sarcastic response to our coverage of the latest spate of child-on-child gun violence:
yes let's blame the gun instead of a mom who:
1) is a multiple felon in possession of a gun with warrants in a nearby county
2) left the gun out and loaded during an unsupervised visit
3) gave up custody of her kid to her mom, who died in 2010, leaving him with his uncle — the kids 3rd family by 3rd gradeyes, let's blame the gun — not the shitty parenting and failures of the child welfare and judicial system.
Can't argue about the shitty parenting, and no doubt that's baggage this 9-year-old shooter carries with him every day. But unlike the gun in the boy's backpack, shitty parenting doesn't accidentally go off, lodging a bullet near the spine of an 8-year-old classmate. I mean, all the shitty parenting in the world isn't going to transform a 9-year-old boy into a deadly weapon without the assistance of, you know, a deadly weapon.
Tyler continues:
so, the next time some parent lets their teenage kid load up the family SUV with their friends and then takes a turn too sharp and kills everyone inside, shall we blame the car?
people. kill. people.
That tattered old straw man, huh. Sigh. To borrow your notation:
1) Nobody's not blaming mom. But the gun played a role in this tragedy too.
2) Killing people is a tragic potential consequence of putting a stupid teenager behind the wheel of a car, but not the sole existential purpose of the SUV itself, whereas handguns, pretty much. Show me a gun I can drop my daughter off at school in, and I'll reconsider your analogy.
3) Hey, nice job finding the shift key on the letters "SUV." Now try using it at the beginning of sentences.
And finally, Tyler writes:
mudede, guns and children, 2 things you are not allowed to write about.
stick to dead horses and ulysses.
Um, no argument there. Thanks for writing, Tyler!
