Calling members of the mainstream media on the firearms-related myths, misstatements and misinformation they’re so well known for spouting can be a Sisyphean task. No matter how many times you swat them over the net, they bounce right back with another gem (or three) that only further illustrates either their cluelessness, their calumny or both. The latest scribe to beclown himself is New York Times‘ editorial board member Jesse Wegman. In a blog post archly titled ‘Wait, Guns Do Kill People?’, he writes, “Last July, William DeHayes was practicing some innocent gun-slinging tricks in his kitchen in Brooksville, Florida, when he accidentally shot Katherine Hoover, the wife of his old friend, point blank in the temple as she sat eating at the kitchen table. . . .
“Ms. Hoover was five months pregnant at the time, and doctors tried in vain to save both her and her fetus, a boy she had named Rehlin.”
Just a little good natured hijinks that went tragically wrong, all thanks to the presence of a gun. Or so Wegman deduces. He was probably combing the net on his phone while taking his morning recreational when, to his great satisfaction, he ran across this little tragedy at The Daily Beast and recognized it as an ideal opportunity to gig the gun nuts. Gold!
Mr. DeHayes clearly feels very bad about what happened. In an interview with the local sheriff, he said, “I haven’t slept in three days trying to figure out how the hell [the gun] went off. I don’t know. I mean them damn guns. The shotgun goes off when it wants to. I almost blew my damn head off twice.”
Gawwlee! Just another redneck gun lover with barely enough IQ wattage to brush his own teeth (well, tooth). A perfect example of the crying need in this country for more common sense restrictions on civilian firearms ownership.
Make no mistake, Wegman’s no idiot. You don’t become a member of the Times’ editorial board without a certain flair for cranking out the kind of agitprop that plays well to his ethically sourced, sustainably raised, skinny soy chai-swilling, gluten-free Upper West Side readership. He saw what he figured was a big, fat softball teed right up for him so he choked up on the bat handle for a mighty clout at every right-thinking New Yorker’s favorite bogeyman: the N…R…A.
Can’t you just picture him rubbing his hands together before typing out the following?
Since the National Rifle Association has repeatedly confirmed that guns do not, in fact, kill people, who is responsible for the deaths of Ms. Hoover and her unborn son?
Swing and a miss! Who is responsible, Jesse? At least you used the right pronoun. As any gun owner worth his Hoppe’s #9 can tell you, William DeHayes is responsible.
DeHayes’ gun didn’t anthropomorphically decide to cavort willy-nilly around an occupied kitchen. He’s the numbnuts who thought performing a few “gun-slinging tricks” with a loaded heater and an audience would be tons o’ fun. He’s the mouth-breather who, if he’s to be believed, “almost blew my damn head off twice.” An outcome, it seems safe to assume, that Ms. Hoover and her family would have preferred to the stupidity that finally ended DeHayes’ gun-owning career (and her life).
So we’re terribly sorry to harsh the buzz you no doubt experienced during the 20 seconds or so it took to concoct your brittle little narrative, Mr. Wegman, but DeHayes’ gun didn’t kill anyone. He did the deed with his appalling carelessness and lack of regard for those around him. He did it with his abject failure to observe any of the four rules of gun safety.
Better luck next time.