Keep in mind that this is real. The National Rifle Association, the powerful gun lobby in the United States, is rewriting classic fairy tales and posting them on the NRA website. They read like the parodies they are, but the NRA’s spin on their reason for the edits is what makes the whole thing astounding, even for them.Â
The NRA says traditional fairy tales are too scary and violent for children, so they’ve done the revisions to make them less so. Oh, and everyone has a gun. But that’s not the point! Oh no, not at all. It’s the violence and stuff.
For instance, the original Hansel and Gretel contains hunger and cannibalism. The kids go out looking for food and get caught by the witch who tries to cook them. In the NRA’s version, the witch is captured and caged while the locals go out hunting for food. And the story is…where?
In Little Red Riding Hood, Grandma picks up a rifle and scares off the Big Bad Wolf who is then “taken care of” by hunters.
It’s basically political correctness from a gun advocate’s point of view. Remove the violence and fear because it’s “too grim and scary” for little children, and put a gun in the hands of the underdogs.
Meanwhile, US statistics show 10,000 kids in that country are either killed or hurt by a gun each year. Last month, a Florida gun pusher was shot in the back by her own toddler, with her own gun. And now a company called Ideal Conceal is manufacturing a smartphone-shaped gun. Have you ever seen a little kid around a smartphone? Magnet and steel.
I will never understand a group that wants to put a gun in my hand, even if I don’t want one. They were founded in 1872, when the west was wild and a land-owner was smart to prepare to defend his family and his property. The NRA is a major contributor to the ignorance of many Americans. Why learn to reason or argue, when you can just shoot? Meanwhile, I shudder to think how the Three Little Pigs will react when the wolf tries to huff and puff and blow their house down. Wolf stew for dinner, anyone?