{"id":12038,"date":"2013-06-02T12:22:31","date_gmt":"2013-06-02T19:22:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/?p=12038"},"modified":"2013-06-02T12:22:31","modified_gmt":"2013-06-02T19:22:31","slug":"ah-how-cute-political-organizations-are-making-hay-with-the-pop-tart-gun-kid-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/2013\/06\/02\/ah-how-cute-political-organizations-are-making-hay-with-the-pop-tart-gun-kid-now\/","title":{"rendered":"ah, how cute. Political organizations are making hay with the pop tart gun kid now"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, this is depressing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At a fundraiser for Anne Arundel County Republicans, House Minority Leader Nicholaus R. Kipke presented Josh Welch with the membership, which cost $550, during a tongue-in-cheek presentation that involved a Pop-Tart fashioned into pistol and gun safety tips.<\/em>
\nJosh’s March 1 suspension from Park Elementary School for chewing a pastry into the shape of a firearm captured national attention over how seriously students should be punished for such threats.<\/em>
\nJosh, who was 7 at time he was suspended for two days, gave the NRA certificate to his parents at the Glen Burnie event<\/em> and returned to playing games on a cellphone<\/em>.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hope it’s not a violent video game, or what the NRA head headed to in explaining Sandy Hook.<\/p>\n

“Everyone keeps asking me why I did it,” Josh said. “I don’t know why I did it. … I wish people would stop asking me about it. It’ll probably go on for 45 years or something.”<\/em>
\nJosh said he didn’t know what the NRA was or what it meant to have a membership, but chimed in when his parents were asked whether anyone else in his family belonged to the NRA.<\/em>
\n“Nope, only me,” he said<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Wait. \u00c2\u00a0Why’d they bring the kid up there then?<\/p>\n

Josh also received an autographed photo of himself with David Keene, the immediate past president of the NRA and the keynote speaker at the fundraiser.<\/em><\/p>\n

‘Cause what eight year old wouldn’t want an autographed photo of himself with David Keene? \u00c2\u00a0Must be the thrill of a lifetime. \u00c2\u00a0Wait. \u00c2\u00a0There’s more<\/a>!<\/p>\n

Anne Arundel County Councilman Jamie Benoit announced he will fund another membership for Welch: the American Civil Liberties Union. Benoit says he wants the boy to have a chance at another point of view.<\/em><\/p>\n

In theory, there isn’t any conflict between the NRA and the ACLU, though in practice it divides along partisan lines — largely. \u00c2\u00a0And to Jamie Benoit’s credit, his part in the political football with the kid was only in response to the state Republican Party and NRA’s grandstanding here, and further — it’s a cause that better fits the ACLU than the NRA. \u00c2\u00a0(The NRA supporters in the comments section gives it their best shot, though… I do like this comment, in response to one of them:<\/p>\n

Can you possibly say “left wing” any more? You must be real fun at parties<\/em>….<\/p>\n

Waiting for PETA to drop the kid a lifetime membership. \u00c2\u00a0(It was a pop tart; he wasn’t eating meat.) \u00c2\u00a0Maybe we get the Syrian Electronic Army while we’re at it. \u00c2\u00a0 Who else? \u00c2\u00a0I don’t know…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, this is depressing. At a fundraiser for Anne Arundel County Republicans, House Minority Leader Nicholaus R. Kipke presented Josh Welch with the membership, which cost $550, during a tongue-in-cheek presentation that involved a Pop-Tart fashioned into pistol and gun safety tips. Josh’s March 1 suspension from Park Elementary School for chewing a pastry into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12038"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12038\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12040,"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12038\/revisions\/12040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}