Cloaked in tragedy, he has come gift-wrapped to the NRA and its Second Amendment perverts. He’s Mark Mattioli, father of a slain student at Newtown, who is speaking out against liberals on the loose using Newtown as an opportunity to further their agenda of spreading fear on gun issues.
“I believe in a few simple gun laws,” stated Mattioli at a recent, somewhat raucus, Hartford, Conn., hearing on gun legislation. “I think we have more than enough on the books. We should hold people individually accountable for their actions. The problem is not gun laws. The problem is a lack of civility.” We’ll be hearing from him again.
Two points.
First, it’s really, really hard to argue with someone whose opinions have survived the crucible of the ultimate personal loss. He has more credibility than Wayne LaPierre and David Keene.
Second, this isn’t zero-sum stuff. We should be able to agree that people should be “individually accountable” and that “lack of civility” is definitely a problem without conceding that current gun laws should suffice. Such laws enabled Nancy Lanza to legally horde a small armory that unconscionably included the assault weapon that killed her and 26 others at Sandy Creek Elementary.