Joe the Plumber to parents of Elliot Rodger's victims: "Your dead kids don’t trump my Constitutional rights"

This is the man Sen. John McCain tried to turn into a national celebrity, by the way

Published May 27, 2014 4:24PM (EDT)

Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher    (Screen shot, YouTube)
Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher (Screen shot, YouTube)

No doubt having noticed it had been quite some time since anyone paid him any attention whatsoever, pseudo-celebrity and all-around political crank Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher (Joe the Plumber) recently penned an open letter to the grieving parents of those killed by Elliot Rodger, informing them that he feels sorry and all about their children being murdered but that he still has a constitutional right to play with guns.

"I am sorry you lost your child," Plumber writes to the open letter's unspecified recipient (which is almost certainly intended to be Richard Martinez). "I myself have a son and daughter and the one thing I never want to go through, is what you are going through now."

"But," Plumber adds, "[a]s harsh as this sounds – your dead kids don’t trump my Constitutional rights."

After granting that criticizing the words of a grieving father is a totally dickish thing to do that no one should do because it's terrible, Plumber laments that Martinez's comments about how the NRA and spineless politicians are partially to blame for his child's gun-related murder "will be exploited by gun-grab extremists as are all tragedies involving gun violence and the mentally ill by the anti-Second Amendment Left."

Still, Plumber writes, "it is my responsibility to protect my family." Steeled by his fearless dedication to principle, Plumber writes that he "will stand up for that right vehemently." For the sake of protecting his family, you see.

Ultimately, Plumber writes, Martinez and other parents who are upset about their children being murdered because of gun violence need to "back off" — lest they give comfort to those who want to further regulate the use of firearms. Plumber continues:

[Gun safety proponents] don’t care about your family or  your dead children at all. They sound like they do, whereas I sound uncaring and like I say, harsh. Don’t be fooled – I care about your family and mine. The future of our very liberty lies in the balance of this fight.

In conclusion, I cannot begin to imagine the pain you are going through, having had your child taken away from you. However, any feelings you have toward my rights being taken away from me, lose those.


By Elias Isquith

Elias Isquith is a former Salon staff writer.

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