While a Maryland kid’s Pop-Tart gun didn’t win him very many points with his elementary school, it did earn him a lifetime membership to the National Rifle Association.
Josh Welch, a student at Park Elementary School in Baltimore, received his lifetime membership to the pro-gun rights organization Wednesday night during an Anne Arundel County Republican Party fundraiser. The membership typically costs $550.
Welch, then seven, was nibbling around the edges of his afternoon snack in March when he inadvertently chewed it into the shape of a gum. He was sent to the principal’s office, where he received a two-day suspension. The school also offered counseling to his classmates in the event they were traumatized by Welch’s actions, and a lawyer filed an appeal to have the suspension removed from his record.
Welch was quick to return to playing games on his cell phone after accepting the award, however he was eager to answer questions from reporters with The Baltimore Sun asked his parents if anyone else in his family belonged to the NRA.
“Nope, only me,” the newest NRA member said.
Welch originally told people that he did not mean to chew his pastry into the shape of a gun but ultimately caved when pressed by a CBS Baltimore reporter.
“When I was done, it turned out to be a gun, yeah,” Welch told the reporter.
Even though the 8-year-old also walked away with an autographed photograph of himself with former NRA president David Keene, all he really wants is his anonymity back.
“Everyone keeps asking me why I did it,” Josh told the Sun. “I don’t know why I did it…I wish people would stop asking me about it.”
