A University of Kansas professor has been removed from the classroom after Tweeting a death wish to the National Rifle Association.
The University of Kansas professor [1] did not just post a vile Tweet wishing harm to the NRA [2]. He also voiced his “death wish” desire upon the children of members of the Second Amendment [3] rights organization .
University of Kansas professor David Guth [4] posted the NRA death wish [5] Tweet following the Navy Yard [6] shooting in Washington, DC. School administrators place him on administrative leave, and a committee announced in late October he would not return to the classroom in 2013 but instead would be assigned other duties. He will take a planned sabbatical in the spring and could return in the fall of 2014.
The Tweet has since been removed from Twitter. A screen shot from David Guth’s NRA death wish Tweet [7] reads:
#NavyYardShooting The blood is on the hands of the #NRA. Next time, let it be YOUR sons and daughters. Shame on you. May God d**n you.
The University of Kansas journalism professor apparently believes the blame for the horrific shooting falls not upon the man who squeezed the trigger, but on the shoulders of an organization which supports responsible gun ownership by law-abiding citizens.
How to hide your guns, and other off grid caches… [8]
Timothy C. Caboni, the University of Kansas vice chancellor for public affairs, said the school condemns Guth’s message. Caboni said:
The contents of Professor Guth’s tweet were repugnant and in no way represent the views or opinions of the University of Kansas. Like all Americans, he has the right under the First Amendment to express his personal views and is protected in that regard. But it is truly disgraceful that these views were expressed in such a callous and uncaring way. We expect all members of the university community to engage in civil discourse and not make inflammatory and offensive comments
Gun rights groups say additional gun laws do not lower violent crime. As previously reported by Off The Grid News [9], Chicago boasts both one of the most stringent sets of gun laws in the United States and one of the highest murder rates. Through September, Chicago had about 27 percent more murders [10] than did New York, even though the Big Apple has three times as many people. Chicago had more than 500 homicides last year.
David Guth gave an interview to the Lawrence Journal-World after his removal from the classroom and discussed the NRA death wish Tweet. Guth said:
I did not advocate violence against anybody. I was getting tired of hearing comments in the media and Twitter that, ‘Gee, this wouldn’t have happened if the office staff at the Navy Yard had been armed.’ … I think they [NRA] are on the wrong side of the angels on this issue. I wasn’t cursing them. I was stating that I would like to see God put judgment on them.
In a statement, Guth wrote, “Some interpreted my tweet differently that it was intended. I don’t want anyone’s children hurt.”
University of Kansas Provost Jeffrey Vitter and Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little said in a statement:
“The committee conducted a full review, and their input was instrumental in arriving at this decision. Our decisions throughout this situation have been guided by the facts and the law, respecting the interests of our students and the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.”
David Guth’s NRA death wish tweet is just the latest in a growing series of anti-Second Amendment or politically biased comments which have gotten university professors in big trouble. Several weeks ago a University of Wisconsin professor told her students that the federal government shutdown was solely the fault of Republicans in Congress. A Michigan State University professor was captured on video calling Republicans old folks with “dead skin cells washing off them.”
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