Governor Mitt Romney has projected several controversial comments throughout his presidential campaign, one of which arose during the second presidential debate.
When moderator Candy Crowley asked Romney about “assault weapons that were once banned and are no longer banned”, Romney’s intent to veer off of answering the question brought up an out-of-context remark. Romney said, “but let me mention another thing, and that is parents. We need moms and dads helping raise kids.”
As a child of a single, hard-working mother, I have learned through her example many things that a child from a two-parent household has not and might not ever understand. Many diverse factors contribute to crime, general violence, and specifically gun violence, and the fact that Romney singled out having a “two-parent household” as the solution is highly inappropriate.
Romney’s proposal of a two-parent household in response to the issue on violence is highly out of context. Crowley even interjected Romney’s response and proposal by saying “Governor, Governor, if I could — the question was about these assault weapons that once were banned and are no longer banned.”
Although studies do show that a child with a two-parent household has more opportunities and may have access to additional resources, there is no study which directly relates a child raised by a single parent to gun violence. Therefore, Romney’s comment was not only offensive to many viewers, but simply invalid.
