Mattiello thinks forks are as dangerous as guns

Posted 4/20/16

To the Editor:

When I got the invitation from my local representative, Nick Mattiello, to go to the Oaklawn Grange on April 9 it read, “Your opinion counts, come to our town meeting. …

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Mattiello thinks forks are as dangerous as guns

Posted

To the Editor:

When I got the invitation from my local representative, Nick Mattiello, to go to the Oaklawn Grange on April 9 it read, “Your opinion counts, come to our town meeting. “ Being a constituent of the most powerful person in Rhode Island politics, I thought it would be a good idea to go to the meeting and share my opinions. 

Well, the place was quite full and I never got the chance. But I must say, I was quite repulsed by the speaker’s reaction to a woman whose brother had been murdered by a neighbor with a concealed carry permit. When asked a question about gun violence, Mr. Mattiello denied that there is a gun problem, and then said, “A fork can kill you, should we outlaw forks?” The breadth of his lack of understanding of the horrible toll of gun violence astonished me.  

It reminded me of that old Saturday Night Live skit about the Bag-O-Glass children’s toy. Dan Akroyd holds up his tie and says, “See, I could strangle myself with my tie.” If that’s all the insight and leadership our Speaker of the House can provide on this serious and tragic issue, I shudder for all of us. 

Rhode Island’s schoolchildren endure active shooter drills. They are hiding under desks in a futile attempt to survive another Newtown shooting where a whole classroom was slaughtered. Just because time has passed it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. And there is nothing to stop a Newtown shooting from happening here. 

Mr. Speaker, when you voice the opinion that we don’t have a gun problem, you are forsaking your leadership responsibilities. As you said about our roads, we just keep kicking this can down the road. Will you continue to kick this can down the road until our children are in the same condition as our roads? Broken and full of holes?

Nancy Ruzzo

Cranston

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