[Scenic Sounds]

You're right, it is a little awkward. Maybe they have a policy that headlines never use the word "killed" immediately following the word "gun." It's a pretty conservative paper. ;-)

[Yardstick]

Maybe they have a policy that headlines never use the word "killed" immediately following the word "gun".

I'll bet that's what it is. Besides being a grammar goof, saying "a gun killed" feeds into the notion that gun crime is a "things" issue rather than a "people" issue, and conservatives know this isn't the case. So kudos to them for their policy (...if that's what it is).