"The problem is not guns"

Hey, just came across this article and video of a speech given by Mark Mattioli, a father of one of the victims at Sandy Hook. He gave a a great speech and obviously everyone in attendance agreed because he got a standing ovation. He seems to understand the situation unfolding in America, and brought some logic to the matter, instead of acting out in emotion only. The man deserves a lot of respect.

Article

I searched and didn't see this posted, but if has please delete.

reply to post by Putyournamehere


Good threads that get comments have a bit more substance. I personally would've included a few snippets from the "article" for dramatic effect, such as:

Parents of children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School appeared before a subcommittee of the Connecticut Legislature on Monday to speak about gun control.

I'm not trying to re-write your thread, but at this point, you could interject a statement that says, for example, one parent is NOT all about gun control.

Mark Mattioli, whose six-year-old son James perished inside of the school, testified that a plethora of new gun laws isn’t the answer

and also, an overlooked aspect,

Mattioli also addressed mental health, a key issue that has often fallen second to gun control in discussions surrounding the Sandy Hook shooting.

Hopefully, a few pointers will help you out.

On topic: I'm pro-gun, and agree with the article. The most important legislation should be addressing mental health issues. Creating profiles on people most susceptible to violence.

All the recent shootings, in fact, all the major mass shootings, have involved a male under age 28. WHY are males of that age range more prone to blasting up a crowd? Why haven't there been any female shooters?

Questions are many, answers are few.

reply to post by Druid42


Thanks for the help, your pointers are appreciated, as well as your time. You did a great job of laying it out there, so I'm glad you were the first comment. But why didn't you embed the video? Kidding.

The man brought up some of the same points we see here on ats, which was nice to see, a voice of reason. I think this also proves that sandy hook is not a hoax played by crisis actors(for those that believe), for why would he give a speech against the agenda?

I'm surprised that no one is talking about this. Hopefully someone puts this out in a better thread, because mine sucked obviously, but it's the message from the father himself that should be heard.

Originally posted by Putyournamehere
I'm surprised that no one is talking about this. Hopefully someone puts this out in a better thread, because mine sucked obviously, but it's the message from the father himself that should be heard.

When reason speaks nobody listens.

When emotion sits screaming everybody in a 100 mile radius comes running to see how they can help.

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


Your absolutely right. Guaranteed, if he gave a passionate speech on gun control and how tighter regulations would be the answer, if would be headline news. What a sad state of affairs we live in.

Please forgive me if this is to far off topic but....

I find it strange that this father is doing this with the death of his son so recently. Doesn’t make sense to me.

Ofcourse this is a matter of opinion, but I know I would not be interested in doing anything like this so soon after the death of my child.

Again, this could just be a passionate father and American defending the rights guaranteed by the constitution, but the image of a grieving father, championing Gun rights seems interestingly timed in relation to the current debate.

reply to post by MDDoxs


I'm not so sure. Not pretending I could possibly place myself in his position, but it would seem reasonable and natural to want to do something to affect positive change coming out of a tragedy that took your child. Any reasonable person that puts poltical agendas, personal prejudices, and emotion aside and looks at the facts will be faced with one HUGE reality. The common factor in all these recent tragedies has been mental health issues. The whole pattern of social isolation and disenfranchisement that is running through the youth culture like a wildfire has been directly linked to all these incidents. It's the same issue that is interwoven with bullying. The tragedies from Columbine to Amanda Todd are directly linked. Whether sociopathic homicidal rage or suicide the end result is the same as is the caustive basis.

This father clearly understands this an wants something done to combat it. All the focus has been on 'gun control'. Very, very little has been focused on 'mental health control'. It's unlikely any degree of 'gun control' will stem these incidents. At best the methodology will change. But had those kids been gunned-down or their school bus fire-bombed the outcome would be the same.

TPTB, fueled by an agenda and emotion, are looking for an easy solution to a complex problem. They're wrong. I'm glad this gentleman gets it.

reply to post by MDDoxs


I hear what your saying, that would be hard to do with such a recent passing of a child. I don't know if I could do what he did, I would not want to leave my bedroom, that being said, everyone is different. He probably doesn't like how his child's passing was being used as tool by the government to push their agenda, and maybe that's what gave him the courage to speak out the way he did.

reply to post by jtma508


You said it way better then I could of, thanks.