The National Rifle Association is rewriting some of the world's best-loved fairy tales to make sure Hansel, Gretel and Little Red Riding Hood are all packing heat – an update that has enraged gun-control advocates.
The NRA Family website has so far published two in a series authored by conservative blogger Amelia Hamilton:
"Little Red Riding Hood (Has a Gun)," which ran in January, and
"Hansel and Gretel (Have Guns)," which was posted this week.
In an editor's note accompanying the January debut, NRA Family editors wrote: "Most of us probably grew up having fairy tales read to us as we drifted off to sleep."
"But how many times have you thought back and realized just how, well, grim some of them are? " they asked. "Did any of them ever make your rest a little bit uneasy? Have you ever wondered what those same fairy tales might sound like if the hapless Red Riding Hoods, Hansels and Gretels had been taught about gun safety and how to use firearms?"
In an interview on
"CBS This Morning" earlier this week, Hamilton explained the series was "really also for adults, and it’s all about safety."
"It’s for parents to start those conversations," she said.
Hamilton also defended the gun twist in an interview with
NRA News, saying her versions are "kinder" than the originals by the Grimm brothers: Nobody is eaten, and nobody gets hurts.
"The kids do just what they are supposed to do and get an adult," she said.
But Ladd Everitt, a spokesman for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, tells the New York Times the rewrites cross the line.
"There are no consequences for the children here holding guns, walking out into the woods with guns, thinking about killing the bad guys,"
he tells the Times. "Children who might read these stories do not have the emotional maturity to understand that gun ownership does come with risks."