According to Indiana University journalism professor Christopher Lamb, Kansas University professor David Guth wasn’t wrong to wish death on children, he just picked the wrong shooting to criticize.

Ken Shepherd of News Busters reports.

Journalism Prof. Defends David Guth; He Simply Chose ‘Wrong Shooting’ to Argue His Point

According to one Christopher Lamb, Kansas University professor David Guth is simply guilty of choosing “the wrong shooting to criticize the NRA.” What’s more, insists Lamb, Guth — who, you may recall, wished damnation and death on NRA members and their children, respectively — was a victim of the breezy nature of Twitter, which is prone to “misinterpretations” because of its “140-character” limit.

Lamb, a journalism professor at Indiana University-Indianapolis, made those arguments at the liberal Huffington Post site Sunday afternoon (h/t Dan Gainor; emphases mine):

Guth chose the wrong shooting to criticize the NRA. It is unlikely that even strict gun laws would have prevented the Navy Yard killings. The gunman, Aaron Alexis, who reportedly suffered from mental illness, used a shotgun that he bought legally after passing a federal background check. While federal law prohibits the mentally ill from buying guns, Alexis was never declared mentally ill by a judge.

The NRA characterized Guth’s tweet as “hate speech.” The organization said that he was calling for violence against the NRA, its members, and their children. Guth did not say that. He was inferring that the NRA and its members would think differently about gun laws if their children were among the victims of a mass shooting.

Such misinterpretations are common in the 140-character world of Twitter, often provoking hostile responses, which then provoke even more hostile responses. On Saturday, CNN published an article called, “Twitter: The Angriest Site on the Internet?” that said “anger, like a potent virus, spreads the fastest and most widely of all” emotions.

This explains, in part, the level of outrage directed against Guth, who has received a barrage of physical threats on his Twitter and email accounts.

Professor Guth certainly doesn’t deserve threats but he can hardly be considered a victim after wishing death on other people’s children.