• A Cub Scout pressed a lawmaker about gun control. Then his den kicked h

    From Trumpmeister@21:1/5 to All on Wed Nov 1 22:59:49 2017
    XPost: co.politics, sac.politics, alt.rush-limbaugh
    XPost: talk.politics.guns

    His left-wing mommy put him up to this shit and he paid the
    price. When he grows up, he will learn the truth and piss on
    her grave.

    When Ames Mayfield’s Cub Scout den met with a Colorado state
    senator last week, the 11-year-old came prepared with a long
    list of typed-up questions. He excitedly raised his hand to ask
    his first one.

    Ames pressed the Republican state senator, Vicki Marble, on an
    issue he knew was important to her: gun legislation. The Cub
    Scout in Broomfield, about 20 miles north of Denver, asked her a
    slew of questions about previous bills she had sponsored in
    support of the right to bear arms, and he wasn’t shy about
    inserting his opinion.

    “I was shocked that you co-sponsored a bill to allow domestic
    violence offenders to continue to own a gun,” Ames said,
    according to a video posted to YouTube by his mother. “Why on
    earth would you want someone who beats their wife to have access
    to a gun?”

    After Ames’s questions went on for more than two minutes, a
    leader in his group cut him off to allow the state senator to
    answer.

    Both the senator and the leader commended him for his “thorough”
    list of questions.

    But after the meeting, the leader of Ames’s Cub Scout pack,
    which oversees various dens, requested a meeting with his
    mother. The leader told Ames’s mother, Lori Mayfield, that her
    son was kicked out of his Cub Scout den, the mother said in an
    email to The Washington Post.

    The son’s den leader was apparently upset over Ames’s questions,
    particularly the one on gun control, Mayfield said. The mother
    was told her son’s question was disrespectful and too political.

    “I had to go home and tell my son he was kicked out,” Mayfield
    said. “My son was heartbroken because he really liked this den
    leader and couldn’t understand why his question was
    inappropriate.”

    Ames was less than four months away from transitioning from the
    Cub Scouts to the Boy Scouts, his mother said.

    The Scouts did not explicitly say he was kicked out of the den.
    In a statement to The Post and local media outlets the Denver
    Area Council of the Boy Scouts said only that he remains a
    member of the larger pack, and that the organization is working
    with the family to offer him options that will “allow him to
    continue his Scouting experience in a way that fits his and his
    family’s needs.”

    The Boy Scouts and the Denver Area Council are “committed to
    working with families interested in Scouting to find local units
    that are the best fit for their children,” the statement read.

    But local news reports of Ames’s apparent removal from his den
    drew anger across social media, with many arguing that Ames was
    punished for asking tough questions of a state lawmaker. After
    all, the den had specifically assigned the scouts to prepare
    questions for the senator.

    Ames’s story drew the attention of gun control advocate and
    former Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona, who was
    shot in the head by an assailant in 2011, suffering a severe
    brain injury.

    “This is exactly the kind of courage we need in Congress,”
    Giffords tweeted Thursday. “Ames, call me in 14 years. I’ll
    campaign for you.”

    Giffords’s husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, called Ames and his
    mother Thursday night to talk about what happened, according to
    Fox 31.

    In a statement to the Denver Post, Marble said that decisions
    about “who is in or out of a den are internal organizational
    matters that I won’t second guess.”

    “I don’t blame the boy for asking the questions, since I believe
    there was an element of manipulation involved, and it wasn’t
    much different from the questions I normally field in other
    meetings,” Marble told the Denver Post. “The invitation to meet
    with the Scouts was never intended to cause friction and
    controversy.”

    The focus of the Cub Scouts’ assignment, Mayfield said, was to
    meet with a government leader and discuss an important issue
    facing the community. Cub Scouts were instructed to decide on
    one or two questions, and to be prepared to ask the official
    about an issue in the local news.

    Ames researched the senator before the meeting and decided he
    would focus his questions on gun control, his mother said. After
    all, the majority of the videos on Marble’s site deal with gun
    rights legislation.

    “Given that the Las Vegas shooting happened, I felt that it
    should be a reasonable thing to ask,” Ames told a Denver Fox
    affiliate. “I don’t feel like I did anything wrong.”

    His mother went along to the meeting and filmed it, because
    “it’s not every day you get to meet with a senator,” Mayfield
    told The Post.

    Other Scouts asked the state senator about her views on
    President Trump’s proposed border wall and fossil fuel
    dependence. One Cub Scout wanted to know “why people voted for
    Obama just because we’ve never had a president with the skin
    tone of a black person.” Marble responded that she doesn’t know
    either, and she wondered about that question herself.

    Ames also asked Marble about controversial comments she made at
    a 2013 legislative hearing regarding mortality rates among black
    people.

    According to the Denver Post, in 2013 Marble said: “When you
    look at life expectancy, there are problems in the black race.
    Sickle-cell anemia is something that comes up. Diabetes is
    something that’s prevalent in the genetic makeup, and you just
    can’t help it.”

    “Although I’ve got to say,” she added at the time. “I’ve never
    had better barbecue and better chicken and ate better in my life
    than when you go down South and you, I mean, I love it.
    Everybody loves it.”

    Marble responded calmly to Ames’s questions by saying the
    controversial statements were “made up by the media.”

    “We have multicultural foods within the United States and we are
    very blessed to have it,” she said. “And we all love it and we
    all eat it. And we just better figure out our genetics and if
    they aren’t eating properly find out how to do better.”

    After Mayfield posted the videos on YouTube, the website
    Colorado Pols published a story about the senator’s exchange
    with the Cub Scouts. It was after this article published that
    Ames’s pack leader requested a meeting with his mother.

    Mayfield said she was told by the pack leader that Ames should
    not have brought up the topic of gun control, although Mayfield
    asserts the Scouts weren’t given any parameters before the
    meeting. The pack leader, she said, told her words Ames used
    were disrespectful, such as “why on earth,” the mention of
    “Republicans” and the phrase, “if you truly represent your
    constituents.”

    “I completely disagree and felt my son followed the directions
    of the assignment and asked hard-hitting, but certainly not
    disrespectful, questions,” Mayfield said. She argued that other
    students’ questions were just as political.

    Ames “has taken great interest in politics,” his mother said.
    The fifth grader was so troubled by recent events that he ran
    for student council and executive council treasurer at his
    school. He won both elections, voted in by his peers.

    This was her son’s fifth year in Cub Scouts. He has the top
    seller of his pack’s popcorn fundraiser, taking in $2,750 in
    just two weeks to pay for his dues and all of his activities for
    the rest of his time in Cub Scouts.

    “Sadly, he will not get to reap the full benefit of his hard
    work,” his mother said.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/10/20/a- cub-scout-asked-a-state-lawmaker-tough-questions-about-gun- control-then-his-den-kicked-him-out-his-mother-
    said/?utm_term=.8abc6a036421
     

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