Newtown mom pleads for gun control at White House

[onehandle]

Source: AP



WASHINGTON (AP) — Choking back tears almost from the start, the mother of a Newtown, Conn., shooting victim made a deeply personal plea from the White House for Americans and their leaders to embrace her call to act on gun violence.

Francine Wheeler, whose 6-year-old son, Ben, was killed inside Sandy Hook Elementary School, stepped in for President Barack Obama to deliver the president's weekly radio and Internet address. She is the first person to deliver the address other than Obama or Vice President Joe Biden since the two took office in 2009.

"Thousands of other families across the United States are also drowning in our grief," Wheeler said in Saturday's address. "Please help us do something before our tragedy becomes your tragedy."

Her husband, David Wheeler, sat silently next to her as she made the recording in the White House Library. Both wore the small green pins that have become a symbol of the December schoolhouse shooting that killed 20 first-graders and six adults.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/newtown-mom-pleads-gun-control-white-house-100137666--politics.html

[Honeycombe8]

1. The problem with this approach, to push gun control, is that gun control isn't

necessarily connected to the particular grief being used to push for it. So those who aren't inclined to vote for gun control in the first place won't be moved one iota by this angle.

For example, the recent gun control proposal....expanded background checks....and explanded school security money.....neither one of those things would've changed the Newtown incident or any of a number of incidents. His guns had been obtained by his mother legally, and unless you had a battery of armed guards, nothing would've stopped the guy from breaking into the school the way he did. He broke in to a locked school by shooting his way in.

Not that any legislation needs to be perfect, or can be perfect. But using a method of persuasion that is so disconnected from the legislation being proposed is weak and will have no effect on the ones who aren't going to vote for the legislation in the first place.

[CBHagman]

3. I agree we need to consider what truly will work, but...

...I wouldn't agree to dismiss most of the elements of the current legislation, and I definitely wouldn't see the Newtown families' appeals as irrelevant. The U.S. has created the society we have, including our rates of gun violence, and it's going to take years of work to correct the process that has made the carnage possible.

[Honeycombe8]

19. The Newtown family appeals aren't irrelevant, per se. I'm saying they will have no effect

on those who won't vote for the legislation to begin with, which is who the appeals are aimed at.

The people who won't vote for the legislation don't see the legislation as having any effect on incidents like Newtown. So although they, like everyone, feel for the Newtown families, they don't see that the legislation has anything to do with it. It probably just comes across as an emotional plea, to them. Like Bush using 9/11 as a plea for torture.

[primavera]

23. I doubt that the hardliners are the intended audience

You're right, of course, the hardcore gun shills are hopeless. The audience for this appeal are the fence sitters who don't understand why guns are such a big deal and worth all of the fuss. For them, appeals of this nature can up the ante, stiffen their spines, and give them additional motivation to do the right thing.

[SunSeeker]

14. They want to pass whatever legislation they can to save lives.

Last edited Sun Apr 14, 2013, 04:03 AM - Edit history (1)

As these parents responded to this very question, even if that legislation would not necessarily have saved their child, if it could save just one other child somewhere, then they feel they have done something worthwhile and their son did not die in vain. This isn't just about their kid. It's about all our kids.

And they are very effective. They made NRA A-rated Joe Manchin a blubbering mess after meeting with them. He is co-sponsoring the legislation being debated in the Senate. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/12/us/senate-votes-to-allow-debate-on-gun-bill.html?_r=0

This is the same Joe Manchin who put out this rifle ad when running for office.

[dkf]

2. Nothing being proposed would have changed what happened.

This is an emotional appeal that doesn't make sense logically.

I guess out of respect and sympathy we are supposed to overlook the disconnect?

[boston bean]

6. If that's all you are able to believe, then yes, please overlook it.

[nevergiveup]

11. You do not know that as an absolute fact

anymore than I know as an absolute fact that it would have changed what happened. The proposals today are at least a start in the direction of doing something about the gun madness in this country and if you can't grasp or relate to the emotional appeal from parents who had there children blown away as a result of this gun culture then perhaps you are the one with a "disconnect".

[BainsBane]

15. that's false

and the kind of stuff Fox has been repeating constantly. Lawrence O'Donnell showed that whole argument was nothing but propaganda this week.

[LanternWaste]

31. Your choice and your interpretation

"I guess out of respect and sympathy we are supposed to overlook the disconnect..."

Your choice and your interpretation-- nothing more, nothing less. However, should you feel so inclined, feel free to send a post card to the parents with your criticism...

[CBHagman]

4. White House link.

For the radio address itself:

[url]http://www.whitehouse.gov/newtownaddress[/url]

[Sunlei]

7. That you for the actual link. Every week there is an issue like this on dot gov.

here's the youtube, heartbreaking the public grief. personally I think we have a frozen disfunctional gov. It's like they wait for the next fire to put out. Sloths, slugs all of them.

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="

?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Botany]

9. As a dad that was very tough to watch

[riderinthestorm]

10. Very, very tough for this mom as well. K&R

For those who refuse to watch or listen, Francine Wheeler's advocating for Congress to begin debate and take some action on sensible gun control measures. She's not specific so for those who say the tragedy at Sandy Hook isn't germane to the discussion, please know that in the video she clearly understands that.

Her grief however at the ravages THIS particular family has endured because of gun violence is incredibly raw. So classy however in her plea.

I hope more people watch it, painful as it is.

[valerief]

5. Gun control is to the left what abortion banning is to the right. Both are important

issues (of course, I'm against abortion banning and for gun control), but both are dangling carrots, always ahead of us to keep our eyes away from other issues, like the pillaging of Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid.

[SunSeeker]

12. I lost two friends to guns. Gun control is important to me, and I can multi-task.

Gun control is not being used as a distraction, any more than any other issue that is important to us, such as global warming, marriage equality, jobs, etc. There will always be a lot of issues that are important to us as human beings. Fortunately, most of us can multi-task.

[valerief]

17. I've lost friends to guns, too. War guns. It's great you can multi-task. Congress won't. nt

[SunSeeker]

18. Gun control AND immigration reform are moving forward.

Congress can multi-task. But maybe not super well. Which may be a good thing considering this is a Republican House and they seem to be preoccupied with other issues besides SS.

[Botany]

8. For Ben Wheeler

If we fail to do anything after this slaughter and yammer on and on about trying to exploit
emotion then I have no truck with the fools and gun lovers who in the end want to do nothing
and hope that Newtown's mass shooting can be "put behind us." The prevalence of guns in
America have caused a prevalence of gun deaths and tragedies and if we do nothing it is not
a question of if we are going to have more Newtowns but when.

These Newtown parents are getting up everyday w/massive pain in their hearts and are trying
to stop that pain from being pushed onto new people after another shooting.

[BainsBane]

16. little angel

I couldn't agree with you more.

[SunSeeker]

13. K&R

[Old Union Guy]

20. What could be more ghoulish than politicians manipulating and exploiting grieving parents? n/t

[onehandle]

21. How about soulless lobbyists shilling for bloodthirsty industries...

...and lunatic basement dwellers?

[Old Union Guy]

22. So your answer is ...

So your answer is "You're another" + "the ends justify the means".

Sorry pal.

I don't want to be ruled by scum, even if they agree with me on the issues.

[onehandle]

26. So President Obama is Scum?

Gotcha.

Enjoy your stay.

[Jennicut]

24. Oh please. These parents have been outspoken in CT

before they even went to DC. I live here and saw them first pressure and petition my governor and state government. No one exploited or manipulated them. These are not naive people. The father of one child that was killed did not believe in gun laws and was able to testify in CT as well as appear on Fox News about it. No one controlled any of the parents. The majority of the parents of the children that died and the families of the teachers and para that died did this because they wanted to.

[geek tragedy]

25. Must really burn Team Gun Worship that these parents

just won't shut up like y'all want them to.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

28. Yes, I'm sure Francine Wheeler was "manipulated" and "exploited"

My guess is that Barack Obama himself forced her to get up there and give that address.



Idiot.

[LanternWaste]

32. Parents of the dead,

"What could be more ghoulish than politicians manipulating and exploiting grieving parents? "

Parents of the dead, manipulating and exploiting their late children attempting to change laws comes close, one might think. :eyes"

[AnotherMcIntosh]

27. Do what works. Increase prison time for gun-related crimes. Increase funding for mental health.

Avoid delays in enacting legislation that would work.

Avoid goal displacement.

What's goal displacement? That's the acceptance of a different goal which is only remotely related to the goal that you want.

Need an example? Remember the 9/11 attackers? Not one of them was an Iraqi. Not one of them was reportedly in Iraq. Yet the politicians who wanted to benefit by quickly doing something that was stupid invaded Iraq. They delayed going after Osama bin Laden for years.

The politicians who chose to invade Iraq had photo ops. And emotional appeals. Remember all those who died in the twin-towers? Including the firemen? The goal-displacing politicians chose to invade Iraq even though Iraq had no relationship to 9/11 except that it's citizens, like the 9/11 attackers, were Muslim. But the politicians didn't do this alone. They were cheered on and enthusiastically supported by emotional non-thinkers who disregarded reasoning in favor of group-think. They were supported by emotional lazy thinkers who prefer the herd mentality. By those who prefer authoritarianism.

And now there are those who not only want to stampede in a direction that is only remotely related to the issue of gun violence but they want others to stampede in that direction as well. No thank you.

They want to stampede in the wrong direction while relying upon "It's for the children." And using their "NRA" or "Fuck the NRA" call. No thank you.

So now we don't even have public discussions about meaningful solutions. Do you want, for example, to increase prison time for criminals engaged in gun-related crimes? You won't hear any such discussions for the politicians who want photo ops and to exploit emotionally-based voters. You won't hear any such discussions from those who are more interested in name calling and saying "gun nuts" along with their "NRA" call.

Other meaningful solutions are also pushed to the side by those who demand that something be done even if that something is emotional and only remotely related to the goal of reducing gun violence. There are those who are being emotional exploited by politicians, and they don't even know it.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

29. The problem with simply "increasing prison time" and dusting your hands and calling it a day....

Laws that are simply punitive in nature are of dubious deterrent effect. Very few people committing murder are actually thinking about the potential consequences of their actions while in the commission of their act. They are too caught up in the heat of passion or delusion to be bothered by such things. Only when the act is already done does their mind turn to that.

It's one of the reasons why the death penalty fails as a deterrent, and that states that have the death penalty have not been shown to have a lower murder rate than states that do not.

The solution to this nation's gun violence problem, at least on the legislative side, has to be regulatory. It has to focus on keeping guns out of the hands of people who are at a risk of harming the public, or people who could easily (willingly or unwillingly) put those guns in the hands of people who are at risk of harming the public. And it has to cut out the further distribution of weapons and ammunition of dubious public utility.

Beyond that--and unfortunately even harder--the solution has to be psychological. Too many people out there own too many guns who really don't have a true need for a gun. We have to change our national mindset on guns. People who do own guns have to ask themselves, do I really need this gun? We need to stop the thought process that you should own a gun simply because "the 2nd Amendment says we can." That needs to be a thing of the past. And appeals, like that of Ms. Wheeler and the other Sandy Hook parents, help bring that mission home.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

30. NOBODY has advocated for simply "increasing prison time," dusting their hands, and calling it a day.

If you think so, you're an idiot.

Please don't misrepresent what I've said.