While I dont agree with many things Christie has done - I am happy to see that common sense prevailed over emotion. It is horrific to lose a loved one to any form of violence - We all sympathize with the Parents of Sandy Hook. However, as we all know, limiting magazine capacities will not make a difference. THIS IS NOT A GUN PROBLEM. Christies defense of gun veto is unfortunate, says parent of Sandy Hook victim Nearly a week after Gov. Chris Christie rejected a controversial gun control measure and then declined to meet with the parents of two children gunned down in Connecticut, the father of one slain first-grader described the governor’s reason for turning down a meeting with them as unfortunate. Mark Barden, whose son Daniel, 7, was killed at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., said he was confused by the Republican governor’s comments on Monday in which he defended his decision to veto the bill intended to reduce the size of ammunition magazines from 15 rounds to 10. What was he afraid of? Barden said in a telephone interview Tuesday. Why wouldn’t he sit down and talk with us? Christie’s conditional veto was announced July 2, the same day Barden and another parent of a Sandy Hook victim, Nicole Hockley, visited Christie’s office in Trenton to present more than 55,000 petitions supporting the bill. Both parents, members of Sandy Hook Promise, a nonprofit organization borne out of the massacre and dedicated to preventing gun violence, requested a meeting with the governor to discuss the proposal. But Christie said he declined to discuss the bill with parents because the conditional veto was already signed by the time they requested a meeting. The reason I didn’t meet with them was because I had already signed it, so it would have been really hypocritical for me to sit down and act like I was listening to their arguments, again, when in fact I already signed the conditional veto and we prepared to release it that afternoon, Christie said Monday. But Barden said parents had been asking Christie’s office for weeks for a sit-down. I started requesting a meeting with him on May 21 and I stayed in touch with his office on a regular basis every week trying to make that meeting happen, he said. I finally refined my request to say that I would even take a phone call and I tried diligently to have a brief private meeting with him. But the efforts were in vain. Christie’s office said Tuesday the governor was not in the Statehouse the day the parents requested a meeting. A Christie spokesman, Kevin Roberts, said the governor signed the conditional veto the day it was released by his office. In that event, Barden said, Christie must have made his mind up to veto the bill weeks before it was announced, since he declined a meeting with them going back to May 21. It makes me scratch my head, Barden said. If he made his decision back then, what was he waiting for? Everyone knows his track record for vetoing controversial bills on the evening of a holiday weekend on the hopes it wouldn’t get noticed, he said. Barden was not alone in his confusion. Joe Scarborough, the host of MSNBC’s Morning Joe and one usually effusive in his praise of Christie, also slammed the New Jersey governor over his reasoning for rejecting the bill last week, calling it one of the stupidest arguments I think I’ve ever heard. Scarborough, a former Republican congressman from Florida who has described Christie as a good friend, also criticized his statement of feeling extraordinary sympathy for the parents of slain children. I feel extraordinary sympathy for them, but I will not meet with them for 10 minutes, Scarborough said sarcastically. In defending his veto, Christie said he disagreed that such a measure would accomplish what the families and advocates of the bill said it would. I understand their argument, I’ve heard their argument, (and) I don’t agree with their argument, Christie said. The governor met with parents of Sandy Hook children last year. facebook/GRAANJ nj/politics/index.ssf/2014/07/christies_defense_of_gun_veto_is_unfortunate_says_parent_of_sandy_hook_victim.html
Posted on: Thu, 10 Jul 2014 10:36:20 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015