Families of Sandy Hook Victims Testify For Mostly Pro-Gun Crowd
by Christine Stuart and Hugh McQuaid | Jan 28, 2013 3:55pm
(14) Comments | Commenting has expired
Posted to: Town News, Newtown, Public Safety, State Capitol
Hugh McQuaid photo
Veronique Pozner, mother of Noah Pozner
The legislature’s bipartisan task force on gun control quickly went off script Monday when the families of some of the youngest victims of the Sandy Hook shooting sought to testify.
Some of the parents of shooting victims were interrupted by gun advocates shouting opposition from the audience.
The last-minute move to include the families of the victims pushed the public hearing back and caused Rep. Craig Miner, R-Litchfield, to express his disappointment at the pace of the informational portion featuring the state police, police chiefs association, gun manufacturers, and the largest municipal lobby in the state. Those were groups lawmakers could hear from another time. He didn’t oppose the testimony of the family members.
The first of the victims’ families to testify were Mark and Cindy Mattioli, who lost their son, James, in the Sandy Hook School shooting on Dec. 14.
“The problem is not gun laws. The problem is a lack of civility,” Mattioli told the legislative task force.
He said the legislature does not need complex laws. It already has laws it doesn’t enforce. He said the city of Chicago, which has seen its murder rate skyrocket recently, has some of the most strict gun laws in the nation, but it’s done nothing for the more 500 who have perished as a result of gun violence.
He said criminals by definition break the law and the gunman who took the lives of 20 students and six educators broke the law when he stole his mother’s guns. He said the state has more than enough gun laws on the books.
But other victims’ families didn’t necessarily share his views, which received a warm round of applause from gun enthusiasts in the room.
Veronique Pozner, whose son, Noah, was killed at Sandy Hook, told lawmakers that gun owners should face all the same regulations and taxes as people registered to drive motor vehicles.
“Everyone who drives a car has to be tested and licensed to ensure public safety. The same should be required of gun owners,” she said.
Pozner called for gun owners to be required to carry liability insurance that they would need to obtain before a gun shop could sell them a weapon.
“The use of firearms results in the death of more than 30,000 Americans annually. There is no question that they’re inherently and profoundly dangerous to our society. Consequently, owners should bear the risk and ultimately socio-economic cost,” she said.
Christine Stuart photo
Detective Barbara Mattson holds an AR 15
Gun owners should also pay high taxes on ammunition, Pozner said, likening the proposal to taxes drivers pay on fuel. Revenue from the tax should go to help pay for extra security needed in schools, she said.
Pozner also called for a law which would restrict access and use of a gun to the person to whom it is registered. In addition, she called for a comprehensive ban on assault rifles and high capacity ammunition magazines.
“Weapons designed to inflict as much lethal damage as possible have no place in the hands of civilians,” she said.
As of Dec. 17, there were 8,825 assault weapons registered in Connecticut, according to the Office of Legislative Research. Pozner said the legislature should consider a complete ban on assault weapons, with no “grandfather” provision for guns already registered. It should be mandatory that current assault rifle owners surrender their weapons and be compensated, she said.
“This is not about the right to bear arms. It is about the right to bear weapons with the capacity for mass destruction,” she said.
Pozner gave emotional testimony on all the things her 6-year-old son will never get to experience.
“He will never get to attend middle school or high school, kiss a girl, attend college, pick a career path, fall in love, marry, have children, or travel the world. Never will he feel the sunlight on his face,” she said.
She showed lawmakers her last photograph of Noah, telling them that she would cherish the picture and dream of the man her son might have become.
Pozner also brought a school project Noah had made. It was a small, hand-shaped turkey, the kind young students often make around Thanksgiving. On each of the feathers, Noah had written something for which he was thankful. He said he was grateful for electricity, books, friends, and family.
“But it’s the center feather that really draws me in,” Pozner said. “He wrote ‘The life I live.’ What happened in Sandy Hook on Dec. 14, 2012, destroyed Noah’s life and the lives of so many others. We must change for the better.”
The audience in the hearing room where Pozner testified had previously been warned by lawmakers to refrain from clapping. Gun advocates had been applauding the pro-gun testimony of gun manufacturers. When Pozner finished her remarks some people in the room clapped but most stayed quiet.
Neil Heslin, who lost his son, Jesse Lewis, in Sandy Hook, had his testimony interrupted by a fire alarm. An emotional Heslin showed up holding a portrait of himself with his son. At one point the audience of mostly gun enthusiasts disagreed with his testimony loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.
“Why anyone in this room needs to have these assault style weapons is beyond me,” Heslin said.
“The Second Amendment shall not be infringed,” a member of the audience shouted before being reprimanded by Sen. Majority Leader Martin Looney, D-New Haven, who was chairing the hearing.
“Anyway, we’re all entitled to our own opinion and I respect their opinions and thoughts, but I wish they’d respect mine,” Heslin said as he concluded his testimony.
The 15-year-old brother of Victoria Soto, one of the teachers who is credited for her heroic acts on Dec. 14, was too frightened to come into the room to testify. Instead, Carlos Soto asked Rev. Laura Asher to read it for him.
“In 1791 the writers of the constitution weren’t thinking of assault rifles,” Asher read. “But now the time has come to talk about these issues.”
Soto even did his research on how much it costs to purchase one of the Bushmaster semi-automatic assault rifles the gunman used at Sandy Hook.
“You can go online to buy a Bushmaster for $1,200 and I’m only 15,” Asher read. “And so I can’t speak for an adult, but from my generation we want change.”
Tags: task force, Sandy Hook, Newtown, shooting, guns, dh
(14) Comments
posted by: Matt W. | January 28, 2013 4:18pm
Christine, Just curious were most of the families in favor of more restrictions or opposed?
posted by: Christine Stuart | January 28, 2013 5:44pm
I would say three of the four who testified favored more restrictions. The Mattioli’s seemed to be in favor of enforcing the laws we already have.
posted by: brutus2011 | January 28, 2013 6:47pm
Personally, I think that rifles and shotguns for hunting or skeet shooting are okay but I can’t buy the sidearm and the assault rifle bit.
However, those in favor of less gun control should not have disrespected the families of those slain at Newtown.
A different forum perhaps but not with these grieving families there to testify.
If you want more civility then how about being more civil yourself?
posted by: Braemar | January 28, 2013 8:28pm
Assault rifles, outside the military, are not legal in any state of the United States. There is low information on gun topics.
Beyond sport and contests, rifles protect private property, as in LA Riots.
The AR 15 is a rifle that shoots one bullet for each trigger pull, and was found in the trunk, never in the building according to police, unless they’ve changed that now!
Criminals and the insane have no use for legislation, no matter its intent. They will not be paying taxes or higher fees.
The root of the problem needs further investigation.
Why are so many young males having these reactions to meds that alter thinking.
I hope the final investigation will be made public.
posted by: William Kurtz | January 28, 2013 9:53pm
Let me see if I have this straight . . .
The gun, um, “enthusiasts” and “patriots” were all over Facebook, Twitter, news outlet comment sections and editorial pages immediately following the massacre saying, “have respect for the families. This isn’t the time to talk about gun control”.
But now, when the families of the victims want to talk about gun control, those same “defenders against tyranny” sit there and try to shout them down?
Disgusting.
posted by: gutbomb86 | January 29, 2013 1:49am
@william kurtz - absolutely right it’s disgusting. Frankly I think they did their own cause more harm than good on Monday.
posted by: wmwallace | January 29, 2013 2:11am
We all feel for those who lost loved one’s and want things to change. More gun laws don’t equal change that would have stopped what happened in Sandy Hook.
We need to deal with the Mental Health aspect and protection for our children in schools. I for one wish that all schools would have camera’s to see who comes in the school along with having to be buzzed in by the office. Having someone at the front door like a resource officer would help as well.
That is much better than treading on the Second Amendment as these laws would
posted by: NoNonsense2013 | January 29, 2013 9:15am
@Braemar: You people need to stop repeating false “facts”, if you want to be taken seriously, that is.
posted by: William Kurtz | January 29, 2013 9:40am
“The AR 15 is a rifle that shoots one bullet for each trigger pull, and was found in the trunk, never in the building according to police, unless they’ve changed that now! “
This is ‘low-information’. It’s true that there were discrepancies in the early, confused reporting on the Newtown shooting, but the confirmed information provided by the state police was that the AR-15 was used in the massacre. Wayne Carver, the medical examiner, said that all of the victims were killed with long guns.
It’s possible, of course, that the CSP are directly to the public as part of a vast conspiracy, but there’s no evidence of that, except in fevered imaginations.
posted by: BMC556 | January 29, 2013 12:43pm
The state of CT CURRENTLY has an assault weapons ban in force. A CT compliant AR-15 type rifle is NOT considered an “assault weapon” as defined by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms. That nomenclature is repeatedly used specifically to sensationalize, spread fear and manipulate attitudes. Newtown was a terrible tragedy, however the victims are being exploited in an attempt to disarm the honest citizens of our country while the real cause of mass killings is swept under the rug. Every proposal I have heard regarding ways of reducing violence has involved firearms and ammunition while NONE have addressed the root cause of the multiple mass killings of recent decades… the altered brain function of children and adolescents inappropriately prescribed antidepressant pharmaceuticals of the Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor family. Google “school shootings and antidepressants” when you have a chance. It’s a real eye opener.
posted by: BMC556 | January 29, 2013 7:00pm
One more thing… The dangers of prescribing antidepressant SSRI’s to children and adolescents is well documented. At this point, it really should be no surprise that these tragic incidents continue to occur.
March 2004: The FDA warned that SSRIs could cause “anxiety, agitation, panic attacks, insomnia, irritability, hostility, impulsivity, akathisia (severe restlessness), hypomania [abnormal excitement] and mania [psychosis characterized by exalted feelings, delusions of grandeur].”
October 2004: The FDA ordered pharmaceutical companies to add a “black box” warning that antidepressants could cause suicidal thoughts and actions in those less than 18 years of age. This was later extended to age 24. Drug regulatory agencies in Australia, New Zealand and Japan have issued similar warnings.
August 2005: The European Medicines Agency Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use issued its strongest warning against child SSRI antidepressant use, stating that the drugs caused suicide attempts and thoughts, aggression, hostility, oppositional behavior and anger.
posted by: William Kurtz | January 29, 2013 7:44pm
BMC,
I did run that Google search; all of the results returned on the first couple of pages are from ‘alternative’ news outlets, places with taglines like, “news that impacts your health that other media sources may censor.” They’re poorly-sourced and attributed. In fact, I can’t find any clearly cited hard evidence that any of the recent mass shooters were using SSRIs or other psychoactive medications. They’re not very convincing.
Of course, I’m pretty sure that information would be confidential. It would be difficult for a reporter to gain access to it. A medical practitioner, for example, couldn’t reveal it.
But which is it? Is the real cause of all of these shootings untreated mental illness, or overtreated mental illness?
I do tend to agree that the fixation on ‘assault weapons’ (and let’s be honest; all guns are ‘assault weapons’) is misplaced. Handguns do most of the damage, even if people are generally killed one, two, or three at a time with handguns.
posted by: BMC556 | January 29, 2013 10:11pm
Fair enough Bill. How about Psychology Today and FOX News…
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/obsessively-yours/201212/newtown-shootings-caution-about-violence-and-ssris
Watch the video report if you have time. I found it very informative.
posted by: dano860 | January 29, 2013 11:59pm
He wasn’t, “shouted down”, he asked a rhetorical question and waited for an answer. Someone finally provided it. The MSNBC tape of it has 8 seconds deleted from it, that eliminates the pregnant pause between the question and the answer.
Ms. Pozner’s grief is real but the suggestions she proposes are unreal. The cost to impliment them will be more than the cost to staff the schools with retired police. Many of the States schools are doing just that.
Taxes won’t prevent a person that is intent on mayhem from creating it.
Real solutions to the teaching of civility and respect must be found. It seems that it used to come naturally but today it’s lost. Is that due to the lack of two parent families, the ease of divorce, the acceptance of single motherhood, the false pride and respect given to gang members or is it the ease of living off the government?
There is no easy answer and blaming the firearms or the legal, sane owners of the firearms isn’t it!