 |
| 8 year old Josh Welch and his pop-tart "gun" |
ARTICLE: Md. Anne Arundel County Republicans criticized for giving lifetime membership to boy suspended in pastry incident
 |
| This #$*)% gave the 8yr old an NRA membership |
Criticism
mounted Thursday over the gift of a National Rifle Association lifetime
membership from Anne Arundel County Republicans to a boy who was
suspended from school in March when he chewed a pastry into the shape of
a pistol.
"It's outrageous that elected officials in our state who don't have anywhere near all the facts of this situation would choose to exploit an 8-year-old child for political purposes in a stunt like this," Anne Arundel County schools spokesman Bob Mosier said Thursday.
The night before, House of Delegates Minority GOP Leader Nicholaus R. Kipke presented Josh Welch with the $550 membership during a Republican fundraiser that derided Maryland's new gun law. Kipke's tongue-in-cheek presentation involved a Pop-Tart fashioned into a gun and firearm safety tips.
After receiving the NRA membership, Josh said in an interview he didn't know what the organization was or what it meant. That comment prompted Anne Arundel County Councilman Jamie Benoit, a Democrat, to offer to buy Josh a lifetime membership to the American Civil Liberties Union.
"No one should tolerate the attempt by Anne Arundel County's Republican leadership to indoctrinate 8-year-olds into an extreme way of thinking," Benoit said. "To put him up there and exploit him for the benefit of the far-right gun agenda is outrageous."
"It's outrageous that elected officials in our state who don't have anywhere near all the facts of this situation would choose to exploit an 8-year-old child for political purposes in a stunt like this," Anne Arundel County schools spokesman Bob Mosier said Thursday.
The night before, House of Delegates Minority GOP Leader Nicholaus R. Kipke presented Josh Welch with the $550 membership during a Republican fundraiser that derided Maryland's new gun law. Kipke's tongue-in-cheek presentation involved a Pop-Tart fashioned into a gun and firearm safety tips.
After receiving the NRA membership, Josh said in an interview he didn't know what the organization was or what it meant. That comment prompted Anne Arundel County Councilman Jamie Benoit, a Democrat, to offer to buy Josh a lifetime membership to the American Civil Liberties Union.
"No one should tolerate the attempt by Anne Arundel County's Republican leadership to indoctrinate 8-year-olds into an extreme way of thinking," Benoit said. "To put him up there and exploit him for the benefit of the far-right gun agenda is outrageous."
