Speaking to reporters at an event organized by the Christian Science Monitor, U.S. Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky., blasted President Obama for using the families of gun violence victims in his push for legislative reforms.From Huffington Post: "I think gun control is a legitimate issue for us to debate," Paul said. "I hate to see using people, I think, as props and politicizing people's tragedy. When I see the father and the mothers and them testifying - and 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, and I think that in some cases the president has used them as props. And that disappoints me.The president has reached out to family members of victims from the Newtown massacre in the aftermath.One mother stood in for Obama during one of his weekly presidential addresses. In that speech Francine Wheeler, whose 6-year-old son was murdered during the shooting spree, pleaded for stricter gun control laws.Paul did express sympathy for the victims of Newtown and appeared to backpedal on the initial comment, but once again derided President Obama and others for having a "dog and pony show."
From HuffPo:
"A lot of things that are done in Washington are done as window dressing. It's a dog and pony show, it's a parade, it's theatrics and histrionics, all to show people that something bad happened, which it did. Something terribly tragic happened and I don't want to demean or in any way lessen that. But the response to it is, 'Hey look at me I did something.'"
A recent Public Policy Polling survey showed Kentucky voters are split on gun control and Congress passing stricter laws. The poll showed 46 percent are for and against further regulations despite opposition from Sens. Paul and Mitch McConnell.The Senate is expected to vote on the background checks measure on Wednesday.
