Chris Christie Defends Refusal To Meet With Sandy Hook Parents

Chris Christie Defends Refusal To Meet With Sandy Hook Parents

The Huffington Post | By Sam Levine | Posted: 07/08/2014 10:59 am EDT
Excerpts:

"New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie defended not meeting with parents whose children were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School before vetoing a gun control bill

Gov. Christie (R)defended his decision not to meet with the families of the children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School before vetoing gun control legislation last week, saying during a press conference Monday that there was nothing they could have said to change his mind.

Nicole Hockley and Mark Barden, two parents whose children were killed at Sandy Hook in 2012, delivered a petition with over 55,000 signatures in support of a bill that would have banned a magazine capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition. The parents requested a meeting with Christie to discuss the issue but were told that Christie was unavailable, according to The Star-Ledger.

An hour later, the governor sent the bill back to the legislature but stripped the magazine requirement.

In his first public statement since vetoing the legislation last week, Christie said that such a meeting would have been useless because he had already made up his mind on the issue, according to The Star-Ledger.

"I already signed it," Christie said at a press conference Monday. "It would have been really hypocritical for me to sit down and act like I was listening to their arguments, again, when in fact I already signed the conditional veto."

After he vetoed the legislation last week, Christie called it "reform in name only," and said it was part of "an attempt to drive an emotional, political agenda." In place of the reduced magazine limit, Christie proposed a host of measures to improve New Jersey's mental health system.

"Are we saying then that the 10 children on the clip that they advocate for, that their lives are less valuable?" Christie said Monday. "If you take the logical conclusion of their argument, you go to zero, because every life is valuable."

In a statement after Christie sent the bill back to the legislature, Hockley and Barden said that Christie's refusal to meet with them was a "cowardly political move."

"We know that smaller magazines would have saved more lives at Sandy Hook Elementary, possibly even the lives of our own children," they said. "If Governor Christie wishes to dodge a true veto of this bill, then we respectfully ask that he does that by meeting with us and telling us to our faces that it wouldn't have protected our own children and won't save the lives of New Jersey children. We doubt he has the courage to face us."

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IMO: If Gov. Christie really feels that "every life is valuable" he would have met with the parents of the murdered children and explained why he will veto the bill. But you cannot veto a bill for less than 10 rounds, without thinking that more than 10 rounds would kill more children...so Gov. Christie's statement that "every life is valuable" does not bear out under the scrutiny of his actions.

I am very disappointed in that big lug, who was a co-conspirator in voting the way he did, and I wonder how much the NRA paid him to vote that way, because as a politician he must act in accordance with the "donations" the NRA gives him.

On this one issue alone, Gov. Christie should never become a candidate for president because of the sleazy way he treated the parents of the dead Sandy Hook kids. We now know the true Chris Christie.

 

He knew what kind of idiotic drivel they were going to screech at him. I wouldn't meet with them either.

 

RW GUN POLITICS trumps parents of DEAD CHILDREN everytime!! Even from a NJ governor.

 

I may disagree with him about the issue, but they only have one of two goals for this meeting. Either they want to change his mind, or they want to embarrass him because he won't. Its too late to change his mind and they are not entitled to an audience as a political stunt or sideshow. He can send them a polite note instead, but there is too much of this kind of thing already from all sides.

 

Whats the big deal here? What makes a few parents from Newtown any more important then any other parents who had kids that were murdered?

 

Good for Christie, he made an excellent argument and people who are disappointed that Christie doesn't want to ban guns could use a reality check.

 

Or 10 rounds in the hands of law enforcement or security would have saved lives. Newtown, if I recall, was a GUN FREE ZONE....not a "less than 10 rounds zone".
I grieve for the parents loss, but their being played and their dean kids are being used as instruments.

 

Why should Christie, who is Governor of New Jersey, meet with parents of a small Connecticut town that had a tragedy?

 

Logically, there is no reason. But, these are "victims" being used by liberals to promote one of their many agenda's. So, meet with them or not, Christie is the bad guy if he doesn't surrender to their demand. New day, same old liberal playbook.

 

Christie is FOS and was pandering to The NRA because his ego is big enough to actually believe he will be the nomiee. Many things will come back to bite him in his big butt if he has the audacity to run. He's a bully that was to chicken (*)(*)(*)(*) to muster up the integrity to meet with these parents.

 

sociopathic rant. Not to mention 2 of the "Parents" are known crisis actors.

 

I see no problem with his answer.

 

He's the govenor of New Jersey. These two parents are from Connecticut. Connecticut parents should be at the bottom of the barrel concerning visits. Let NJ and it's citizens conduct NJ business. Seems rational.

 

He'll just be running as cannon fodder for the liberal hate machine to focus on, after 'Bridgegate' there is no point in nominating him. That would dominate his whole campaign, and the issues would be lost...

 

Its really sad they they are so desperate to keep Sandy Hook in the news that when a Governor of another state doesnt meet with them its Outrage!!!!

Pathetic.

 

If we fall for the anti gun lib "logic" represented here then one round in the magazine is too much.

 

Someone PLEASE TELL ME why he is supposed to do this. I really have no idea. So tell me, other than a talking point if he doesn't by the REPUBLICANS who will do nothing!!! HAS BOEHNER OFFERED TO GO MEET THE ILLEGAL ALIENS?? If not why not?? IT ALL REST IN HIS HANDS NOW. Obama does an executive order, REPUBLICANS SCREAM. Obama tells Congress, then fix it, REPUBLICANS SCREAM. They have about 2 weeks to fix this (*)(*)(*)(*) people. There is a wind that wooshes through DC that first couple of days of AUGUST when these people recess. This break is more sacrosanct than CHRISTMAS.

 

If we repeal the legal loophole that Obama and the illegal aliens are taking advantage of then these immigration cheaters are turned back at the border then $4 billion extra to take care of them is not needed.

 

It has ZERO to do with his embarrassment. It has everything to do with him thinking he still has a shot at 2016.

 

Maybe it has to do with him doing what governors do, govern. These two knuckleheads from connecticut have no business attempting to influence laws in a different state. What makes these two out of staters opinion more worthy than anyone else? Emotion. You tend to forget. Conservatives don't force laws on others just because they're panties are in a bunch.

 

Some people have such short memories and such hypocrisy that it is amazing. I am sure that if Bush had gone to a barbeque instead of going to New Orleans after Katrina you could hear the howls from the left on the Moon. What do you think leaders are supposed to do? Golf?

 

Maybe its about both, or because he is busy, or because he just does not feel it would be productive. They are still not entitled to personal audience with a governor of US state, because they have suffered a tragic loss no matter how strongly they feel about a bill he has decided to sign or veto. Its usually the legislative branch that encourages public testimony on bills. That means the state House and Senate committees which hold public hearings before write -up and amendment, are the appropriate venue for this kind of thing. Once he's signaled his intent on a bill, such a meeting becomes more a political stunt than anything else. He's not interested in giving them a platform for the media, and that is all this is..

 

The biggest issue here is Christie even thinking he has a chance at the Presidency. Anyone that stupid doesn't deserve to be President.

 

.....yeah because we know killers like at sandy hook would obey the ten round magazine rule

 

Christie has been called a bully by many; now we can rightfully call him a coward as well.