Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Parent of child killed by a semi-automatic weapon wishes killer had an automatic weapon instead?!

Parents Of Massacre Victims United In Grief, Divided On Gun Control - Courant.com


James Mattioli
James Mattioli, 6. 
Mattioli, one of the Sandy Hook parents, said he thinks the political left has tried to make the public believe that the semiautomatic Bushmaster rifle used in the killings was a fully automatic machine gun, which puts out a spray of bullets when the trigger is pulled once and held. "I'll tell you, I wish it had been, because it would be quick and over and I wouldn't have to deal with the nightmare of what it actually probably was," Mattioli said.
I don't know what to make of this. James Mattioli was one of the kids killed in the massacre. His father has testified that "the left" has tried to make the public think the Bushmaster is a fully automatic weapon ... something I have never seen in my reading of the coverage ... and wishes the killer actually had used a fully automatic weapon?!  So his son could have been shot more? So more kids could have been shot even quicker.

I can't imagine the grief of those parents. That said, I can't imagine wishing the killer had a fully automatic instead, no matter how much faster (and therefore more mercifully?) it would have enabled him to kill my child.

I don't understand. I want to empathize. I want to understand. We have to be able to to talk to each other to solve the problems we face as a society, but that statement ... It makes me want to cry, not talk.

Don't even get me started on the peanut gallery that cried out "Shall not infringe!" when asked by another parent why they needed semi-automatic weapons with high capacity clips. "Shall not infringe!" does not answer the question. Lawrence O'Donnell explains.

[Update: Thanks to +Ben Hibben for being willing to take up the discussion, and for making some elucidating comments, over on G+]


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