The right-wing is in full on stroke-mode today regarding Sunday night’s Miss America Pageant. The reason: Our very own Miss South Carolina, Daja Dial, was asked a question about gun violence and she responded with an answer that positively made the gun-rigthers squeal with piggie delight.

The question: “America loves our Second Amendment, but gun violence continues to be a tragic problem. Do you support a ban on military-style assault weapons?”

Dial’s answer: “I don’t, but I think it’s because we need to increase education. We have to go back there. If we teach people the right way to use guns, then we will reduce the risk of having gun-related accidents. It starts with education.”

The problem, of course, isn’t that Dial made a favorable statement about guns — I’m all for gun ownership — it’s that her answer was positively tone deaf, and the praise that is being lauded on her, ignores the implications of her statement.

The truth of the matter is, Dial chose to categorize acts of gun violence — like the June 17 massacre at the Mother Emanuel Church — as an “accident.” Any reasonable person knows that no amount of “education” would have prevented that tragedy, nor the tragedies in Aurora, Colo. or Newtown, Conn. or any of the other “accidents” over the years which have taken countless innocent lives.

Now, if you want to praise Dial for dodging a question about gun violence, then have at it, because that’s all she did — and, well, belittle the deaths of the Emanuel Nine. And that, my friends, is not worthy of our praise, only our ridicule.

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