Wednesday’s display of swastikas alongside the faces of 10 legislators who sponsored a bill opposed by gun supporters was disrespectful and inappropriate. The specific name and number of the bill being considered at the time doesn’t even matter. Policy disagreements are one thing; equating the sponsors of a bill you oppose of being Nazis is something else, and the latter has no place in our state government.
Members of the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee sharply disagreed on policy as they discussed their views on the legislation in question, yet they conducted the debate with civility and at least a show of a good faith. But the same cannot be said for those spectators who displayed these professionally printed signs spread throughout the committee room. That action is as bad faith as possible, and if those holding the signs or proudly setting up the giant poster next to the committee room’s window (where the chairman couldn’t see it) thought they were contributing something constructive to the debate, they are mistaken.
While pretending that any gun violence prevention measure is a sure step toward Nazism is a tired and decades-old technique of the pro-gun lobby, pasting specific representatives’ faces next to swastikas is a new low. Every member of the committee, regardless of party, as well as the leadership of the House of Representatives, needs to condemn this behavior and take steps to ensure that it will not occur again.
TRACY HAHN-BURKETT
Bow
(The writer is convener of the working group on gun violence prevention for the Kent Street Coalition.)