Last year, Meleanie Hain made headlines when she openly carried a firearm to her daughter’s soccer game in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. She broke no laws in doing so, but found herself in a legal battle with local officials, which she won in time.
Evidently, there were problems in her household, and last night, she and her husband were found shot dead in their home. The PAFOA has a thread running in which people who knew her personally are discussing the case. At the moment, few hard facts about the situation are available.
But that doesn’t stop Cynthia Tucker from turning the issue into easy political fodder.
Before the facts are in, before police have released the particulars, Ms. Tucker has used the incident as fuel for an editorial on gun regulation. She should be ashamed of herself.
Obviously, she has an obligation to put a certain amount of ink to paper, but nothing justifies capitalizing on a tragedy in such a way.
She is commenting–and getting paid to do so–on an event that is still scant on facts, and one that did not even occur in Georgia. Is there no city-level corruption, budget shortfall, crime or woe in Atlanta at the moment, or has she just run out of ideas? Really, is it that easy to get a Pulitzer nowadays?
Whatever the case, any decent person, journalist or not, should spare Ms. Hain’s family the additional grief and show a little respect for the dead. I’ve little use for Ms. Tucker, or the newspaper for which she writes, but this is unacceptable.
I urge everyone reading this to contact the editors of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and register their disgust.
Edit: As of this afternoon, reports are that Hain and her husband had been dealing with marital problems for quite some time. One of their three children told witnesses that the husband shot her. She leaves behind a 10-year-old son and two daughters, aged 2 and 6. Scott, her husband, was a parole officer and likely had a government-issued firearm of his own.