Maryland first lady regrets ''shoot Britney'' remark
October 9, 2003
ANNAPOLIS, Maryland (Reuters) -- Maryland's first lady was only joking when she said she would like to shoot pop star Britney Spears, but it is no longer a laughing matter.
Kendel Ehrlich, wife of the state's Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich, was criticizing what she views as the entertainment industry's negative influence on youth, during a domestic violence prevention conference last week in the city of Frederick.
"Really, if I had an opportunity to shoot Britney Spears, I think I would," Ehrlich laughingly told the audience, accusing the 21-year-old Grammy Award-nominated singer of exaggerating the importance of sex for young girls.
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A Frederick radio station discovered Ehrlich's remark while reviewing a conference tape-recording and ran a news story about it Monday.
On Tuesday, Ehrlich spokeswoman Meghann Siwinski said: "As a working mother raising a 4-year-old son, the first lady has concerns about the negative influences that the entertainment industry can have on young children and teenagers. During a public appearance, she inadvertently used a figure of speech to express those concerns."
Publicists for Spears were not immediately available for comment. Ehrlich's husband is a first-term governor who launched a failed bid this year to strengthen Maryland's penalties for gun-related crimes.
Commentary:
The ironies in this story are rich and numerous:
• The First Lady was speaking at a domestic violence prevention conference when she made her "shoot Britney" remark.
• Maryland has some of the most restrictive gun control laws in our nation. Gun control advocates point to that state as a model for what they want to impose on the rest of us.
• Maryland residents will likely never forget the difficulty then-Governor Parris Glendening had trying to remove a trigger lock at a press conference intended to tout the benefits of safe storage legislation, and to dispute those who said it would render people defenseless.
• Despite all the gun control in Maryland, even residents there have a legal mechanism for concealing a firearm for self-defense.
So the First Lady says she wishes she could shoot Britney, because she's a negative influence. But her violent comment was just a figure of speech. Hmmm... anyone beginning to wonder who is the WORSE negative influence on teens?
This isn't the first time a public figure has advocated using a gun to commit violence against an opponent. In a June 4, 2003 Washington Times article discussing the notion that gun-control has become a loosing argument for Democrat politicians, a leading anti-self-defense extremist had this to say about the Democrat's unwillingness to focus on passing more gun control laws:
"Whoever is advising [the Democrats] on gun control should be shot." -- Blaine Rummel, spokesman for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence
Click here to read the story from Reuters.
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