Journalism professor says he hopes for murder of NRA members' children

A journalism professor at the University of Kansas (KU) turned to Twitter on Monday to suggest he would like to see the murder of children of National Rifle Association (NRA) members at the hands of a deranged gunman.

“#NavyYardShooting The blood is on the hands of the #NRA,” tweeted David Guth, who is an associate professor of Journalism at the university’s William Allen White School of Journalism.

“Next time, let it be YOUR sons and daughters, he continued. “Shame on you. May God damn you.”

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Speaking with Campus Reform on Wednesday, Guth confirmed it was he who sent the controversial tweet.

“Hell no, hell no, I do not regret that Tweet,” he said. “I don't take it back one bit.”

Guth also doubled down on the statement when other Twitter users pressed him, suggesting it was was shameful to call for the death of children.

“God’s justice takes many forms,” he tweeted in response.

And on Monday the associate journalism professor echoed those sentiments on his personal blog, called Snapping Turtle.

“I don't wish what happened today on anyone,” he wrote. “But if it does happen again — and it likely will — may it happen to those misguided miscreants who suggest that today's death toll at the Navy Yard would have been lower if the employees there were allowed to pack heat.”

Also in his interview with Campus Reform, he said that he wished “a pox on our Congress and a pox on the NRA” for not instituting gun control policies to prevent mass shootings.

“It absolutely appalls me that after Newtown, we could not have come to some kind of sane agreement on something as simple as the number of bullets in a magazine or the availability of assault weapons,” he said.

Despite early rumors, the weapon used in the Navy Yard shooting was not an assault weapon, but a shotgun typically used for hunting small birds and wild game.

KU on Wednesday told Campus Reform that they stand by the professor's right to make such statements.

“Faculty have their own social media accounts and use those to express personal opinions, but those opinions do not represent the university,” spokesman Jack Martin wrote in an email statement to Campus Reform on Wednesday.

While Guth’s Twitter account is personal, his biography includes a link that directs to the school’s website.

“An Eastern Shoreman turned professor and historian,” reads his description. “A devoted husband, father and dog owner. Most important: an independent thinker.”

Official school policy demands all in the community adhere to a standard of “inclusive learning and working environment at the University of Kansas.”

Guth made his comments the same day as the massacre at the Navy Yard in Washington, DC which left 13 people dead including the shooter.

Guth also served as the associate dean of the journalism school from July 2004 to July 2009.

The NRA did not make a spokesperson available to Campus Reform at the time of publication.



Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @kctimpf