Guns

Mitt Romney and Barack Obama Both Acknowledge Parents' Role in Quelling Gun Violence

Which candidate said young men must have the courage to raise their children?

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Mitt Romney's observation that parental involvement is critical to keep kids in school and off the streets has been skewered as being anti-single mom. Here's what Romney said (in response to a question about AK-47s, no less):

We need moms and dads, helping to raise kids. Wherever possible the — the benefit of having two parents in the home, and that's not always possible. A lot of great single moms, single dads. But gosh to tell our kids that before they have babies, they ought to think about getting married to someone, that's a great idea.

Because if there's a two parent family, the prospect of living in poverty goes down dramatically. The opportunities that the child will — will be able to achieve increase dramatically. So we can make changes in the way our culture works to help bring people away from violence and give them opportunity, and bring them in the American system.

Then-candidate Barack Obama addressed the issue of youth violence at an address to the NAACP in 2008. He said:

I know that nine little children did not walk through a schoolhouse door in Little Rock so that we could stand by and let our children drop out of school and turn to gangs for the support they are not getting elsewhere…

…if we're serious about reclaiming that dream, we have to do more in our own lives, our own families, and our own communities. That starts with providing the guidance our children need, turning off the TV, and putting away the video games; attending those parent-teacher conferences, helping our children with their homework, and setting a good example. It starts with teaching our daughters to never allow images on television to tell them what they are worth; and teaching our sons to treat women with respect, and to realize that responsibility does not end at conception; that what makes them men is not the ability to have a child but the courage to raise one.

Another difference that largely isn't.