As Gov. Phil Scott courageously held a very public signing of three gun control measures that increase oversight and inspection but only modestly restrict gun access, gun right hecklers called him “traitor” and booed at the mention of his administration also allocating $5 million for school safety.
Scott turned on those hecklers, confronting them directly: “If you want to boo on that, go ahead and boo.”
Scott could say that knowing he has the public fully on his side. Indeed, he has the majority of Vermonters approving of the three bills he signed. Even a group of gun owners came out in support of Scott’s actions. But Scott wisely took it a step further in his prepared comments at the signing.
“Our national dialogue has been reduced to angry hateful social media posts that you can either like or not with no room for conversation or respect or disagreement and where facts and details no longer seem to matter,” Scott said, and then asked this pointed question: “Do we honestly think that the erosion of civility and respect of others in some way is unrelated to this type of violence and disregard for human lives we are seeing?”
Gun rights extremists and those who vehemently oppose gun rights need to think hard about that to be sure their anger and intolerance isn’t part of the problem. Civility is a lesson for all to learn — and practice.