Joe Biden Says Chocolate Bullets Would Make Country Safer In Postcard To Wisconsin Boy

Vice President and inveterate jokester Joe Biden made a Wisconsin second-grader’s day when he personally responded to a letter the boy had sent him with a handwritten postcard.

According to the Manitowoc Wisconsin News, the recipient of Biden’s postcard, which was written on official vice presidential stationary, was a 7-year-old student at Downtown Montessori Academy in Milwaukee, Wis., named Myles. School officials told the newspaper that Myles had written to Biden, along with President Barack Obama and U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore shortly after the deadly shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, to propose an idea that might curb gun violence.

“He said, ‘If we have chocolate bullets, nobody would get hurt, and nobody would be sad,’” Barbara Rankin, a reading specialist at Downtown Montessori who was with him at the time, said. “I’m going to start crying again because he was so insightful.”

Rankin said that she supported Myles’ idea and encouraged him to share it with people who could influence gun policy. Months later, Myles received a response from Rep. Moore, but Rankin said that it was a generic printed response with a short handwritten note added at the bottom.

When the letter from Biden’s office was delivered to Downtown Montessori on Monday, it arrived in the office of the head of the school, Virginia Flynn, because Myles had not mentioned his last name.

The note, dated April 30, reads: “Dear Myles, I am sorry it took me so very long to respond to your letter. I really like your idea. If we had guns that shot chocolate, not only would our country be safer, it would be happier. People love chocolate. You are a good boy, Joe Biden.”

“Everybody was impressed,” Flynn said of receiving the letter. “You should have seen everybody. Their faces were just wide-eyed. The fact that it was handwritten made it really special.”

Rankin added that between her, Myles and his teacher, Jenny Aicher, she didn’t know who was the most excited. “I fully expected a form letter ... and we get this handwritten note from Vice President Biden. It was phenomenal,” Rankin said.

Myles, whose last name was not released by the school, reportedly photocopied the postcard for friends and family members. Aicher said that he also asked another classmate, “Did you know I was going to be famous?”

The majority of Twitter users who weighed in on the vice president’s gun control comments seemed amused.

“Joe Biden is unrepentantly awesome because chocolate guns,” blogger @ZandarVTS wrote.

“You're right, @JoeBiden, people do love chocolate,” Sara Lang tweeted.

But not everyone appreciated the vice president’s remarks. “Joe Biden's 'chocolate bullets' letter makes me want Dick Cheney back,” New York magazine editor Justin Miller tweeted.

Despite his humorous postcard, Biden has tried to take a hard stance on gun control. Two weeks ago, the vice president announced that he planned to travel the country extensively by himself to agitate for the expanded background checks and gun-trafficking laws that were included in the Senate bill that failed in April, Politico reports.