Words Have Meaning

Updated: Thursday, March 13, 2008, 5:14 pm -- Clayton Cramer has more on the issue of the attack upon the 10-year-old boy, and why guns are needed -- even if criminals magically go away.

Here's a taste: "Rabid mountain lion": that's one of those phrases only slightly less frightening than "irritated grizzly bear" or "nearsighted, confused rhinoceros."

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"What's in a word?" asks writer David Codrea.

"The El Mirage boy, who was celebrating his 10th birthday in the Tonto National Forest, remained calm even as he was attacked by the animal . . . Paul's uncle reportedly took up his pistol and shot the lion, which was an older female, then loaded it in the family's truck and took it to Smith's home in Glendale."

That would be "National Forest" as opposed to "National Park."

Were this event to have happened in a national park, the outcome would likely not have been such a happy one.