I think this is a working link to the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKsSBh3KfwQ

Since we know who the kid is, did anyone vet the story about his grandmother? I'd give it less than a 50/50 chance to be true.

It's intersting how "conservatives" are always so concerned with the Constitution, and constantly waving their "bible" The Federalist (even though they should be waving anti-Federalist/"state's rights" papers), yet never mention the legal authority (which doesn't inlcude The Federalistas concerns the Second Amendment: the debates of the first Congress under the newly-ratified Constitution.

Actually, it isn't a mystery why they don't mention those debates, as they make conclusively clear that the Second Amendment has nothing whatever to do with "individual" anything. This is the first draft of that which became the Second, as written by James Madison:

"The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; a well regulated, and well armed militia being the best security of a free country: but no person religiously scrupulous of bearing arms shall be compelled to render military service in person."

("People" is plural, as it is also in "We the people". "Person" is individual, and is tied directly to INVOLUNTARY MILITARY SERVICE. As well, and obviously, that posited individual right would have afforded the individual eligible thereunder the right NOT to bear arms.)

It is also the fact that the Second Amendment, which does have within its scope the public institution militia, does not "protect" anything within its scope from the rule of law -- regulation -- as evidenced by the fact that the "Bill of Rights," and the Second Amendment, were ratified on 12/15/1791, and the "Militia Act," regulating the militia, was enacted by Congress on 5/8/1792.

The lying NRA -- and the "conservatives" who spout the NRA's anti-Constitutional lie -- won't tell you those basic and easily verified facts. I just did.

I was at that event, and when the kid first made the statement about his grandmother, I, too, was skeptical. (Especially since he never identified himself--something that had been requested of all those asking questions.) But when Obama came back and asked the kid which country his grandmother had died in, there seemed to be a delay before he answered "Sweden."

It seems unlikely, however, that his dad, a highly-credentialed professor at the University of Maryland, would promote the story if it's untrue (although it sounds like his veracity has been questioned in the past: See this entry in his Wikipedia profile: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_lott#Controversy).

Strath Haven High School is in the Wallingford-Swarthmore (the home of Swarthmore College) School District and is known to be very liberal. That's probably why his classmates all groaned when Obama called on Roger Lott. And it sounds like he was wearing a Ron Paul t-shirt, although I couldn't see it from my vantage point. I thought it was great that Obama was taking questions from an audience that had not been screened ahead of time.

Interesting tidbit: John Lott filed suit against Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner for defamation when they claimed in their bestseller Freakonomics that Lott's research results had never been replicated anywhere else in academia.

Can one of you excellent TPM muckrakers check out the story? On face value it just doesn't seem to pass the sniff test. I was expecting one of the local reporters to follow up and check on the kid's claims but I haven't seen it if somebody has.

It looks like it's John Lott's wife, Gertrud Fremling, who grew up in Sweden, so I think we can safely assume the "deceased grandmother" is her mom, not John's.

From FORBES:

Guns, Drugs And Insider Trading
Peter Brimelow, 09.18.00

JOHN LOTT HAS FEW EQUALS AS A PERCEPTIVE ANALYST of controversial public policy issues," says Nobel laureate Milton Friedman. "Controversial" is putting it mildly. The tall, gangling Lott, 42, a senior research scholar at Yale Law School, specializes in applying economic analysis to such matters as why governments provide education (indoctrination, concludes Lott); why campaign contributions are increasing (higher government spending); and whether enfranchising women means bigger government (yes; see chart).

FORBES interviewed him in his Swarthmore, Pa. home, where his wife, Gertrud Fremling, an economist born and raised in Sweden, home-schools their four sons. Ironically, she tried banning toy guns, but the boys used dolls as substitute weapons. We began by asking about his latest thunderbolt: More Guns, Less Crime (University of Chicago Press, 2000) . . .

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2000/0918/6608122a_print.html

I thought I posted a comment here - we are talking about john Lott the World Class Liar who lied totally about his book - right?

What makes anyone think the apple falls far from the tree?

http://www.whoismaryrosh.com/

Spawn of Sock Puppet Speaks!

No one who has heard Obama's healthcare plan
can really complain or criticize it.
No one has heard Obama's healthcare plan.

I wonder if Lott would accept a student's claim a computer crash 'ate my homework as' he claimed a computer did to his phony gun survey. If he is at AEI it is reasonable to be skeptical of any thing that comes out of there. And there is no doubt he set his kid up to question Barack. As bad as the economy is in Pa. I'm sure they wish there was health care for all no matter whose mother died in any country with universal health care. hell Cuba's infant mortality rate is higher only because of pre-natal care.
P.S. I get you ,gonzone.

Lott has provided a brief explanation of the grandmother's death (the son's maternal grandmother) in a way that supports his son's version of the event

Let me tell you something - John Lott is a proven liar and anything that comes associated with him comes to me with that on them right at the threshold.

I wouldn't believe anything John Lott said. If he was standing in front of me with flames shooting off of him, I might not even believe him if he told me he was on fire.

John Lott is a public, world class A number 1 LIAR.

Wow, I think John Lott is craving a little attention from Barack Obama. He has a new opinion piece on FOXNews.com called, "Obama and Guns: Two Different Views."

This time Lott recounts an entire conversation with Obama verbatim:

"In fact, I knew Obama during the mid-1990s, and his answers to IVI’s question on guns fit well with the Obama that I knew. Indeed, the first time I introduced myself to him he said 'Oh, you are the gun guy.'

"I responded 'Yes, I guess so.' He simply responded that 'I don’t believe that people should be able to own guns.'

"When I said it might be fun to talk about the question sometime and about his support of the city of Chicago’s lawsuit against the gun makers, he simply grimaced and turned away, ending the conversation."

Full story here: http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,347690,00.html

The word that comes to mind in describing John Lott seems to be "unsubstantiated."

"I responded “Yes, I guess so.” He simply responded that “I don’t believe that people should be able to own guns.”"

LOL.

Fox prints this shit?