Within a few months after a 4-year old shot his mother from the back of a pick-up truck while she was driving, a 2-year-old sitting in the backseat of a car shot and killed his mother while she was driving.

Predictably, Hillary Clinton called this incident a senseless tragedy that highlighted the need for stricter gun control laws to prevent guns from winding up in children’s hands.  Bernie Sanders observed that he was from a state where gun ownership and hunting were proud traditions.

Ted Cruz weighed in more forcefully, and immediately rejected calls for tighter gun control:

“If I am president, all U.S. citizens will be issued a gun license and a gun at the same time their birth certificate is issued — except for those born of a foreign parent in a foreign country where the private ownership of a gun is illegal.  They will be given a gun as soon as they are repatriated to the United States.”

Not to be outdone in pledging allegiance to the Second Amendment, Donald Trump urged caution in acting before all of the facts have come to light:

“We don’t know the whole story — we don’t know.  You don’t know if the child was abused by his mother — and by the way, there would be far less child abuse in this country if more kids had guns — far less!  And how do you know that the mother wasn’t driving recklessly — endangering both of their lives — not to mention other drivers and pedestrians — and the kid asked her to stop and settle down, but she didn’t.  And by the way, if that’s true, I’ll pay the kid’s legal bills!  I think his Second Amendment rights have probably been violated!”

Since the presidential candidates spoke out, police have discovered a cell phone audio recording of the events leading up to the shooting, which has shed some light on the incident.

Child’s Voice, yelling:

“Yes, I DO want hear the theme from Frozen for the ONE-HUNDRED-and-FIRST time, and you WILL play it for me RIGHT NOW!

[Pause]

“If you do NOT, there will be CONSEQUENCES!”

[Pause]

“Don’t MAKE me PULL this trigger!”

[Large Explosion]

“Now, if I can just reach that remote . . .”