April 17, 2013 by David K. Sutton
Senator Rand Paul Says Obama Using Newtown Families As ‘Props’
Today Senator Rand Paul accused President Obama of using victims of the Sandy Hook school shooting as “props.”
“When I see the father and the mothers testifying, I know they’re coming voluntarily and they want to come and be part of this debate, but it still saddens me just to see them,” said Senator Paul at a Christian Science Monitor sponsored breakfast. “And I think in some cases the president has used them as props, and that disappoints me.”
What disappoints me is when someone packages their own political ideology in an accusation, particularly a baseless one. Just because there are Newtown families who align with the president on the issue of gun control, does not make them political props. They are thinking human beings who have an elevated voice when it comes to sensible gun legislation. They did not ask for this distinction. But if they choose to take advantage of it, they should not be criticized, or demeaned for doing so.
President Obama also weighed in. “I’ve heard folks say that having the families of victims lobby for this legislation was somehow misplaced. A prop, somebody called them,” said the president. “Are they serious? Do we really think that thousands of families whose lives have been shattered by gun violence don’t have a right to weigh in on this issue?”
Maybe Rand Paul thinks that, maybe he doesn’t. What I do know is that Senator Paul is not the authority on who gets to speak about sensible gun legislation.
