I’ve read a number of comments from attendees of the West Windsor Council meeting on March 26 that have been intensely critical of the mayor and town council members who were not in favor of supporting the gun safety resolution at the township level due to jurisdictional and other concerns they expressed.
Some of this criticism has gone so far as to question their leadership, professionalism and integrity.
Having attended the same meeting, I too was disappointed in what transpired, but for different reasons. While I anticipated that strong opinions would be voiced, I was astonished by the vitriolic comments and political theater that a fair number of the supporters of the resolution felt it necessary to engage in.
Furthermore this wasn’t only directed at the mayor and some of the council members. Some of our own neighbors who shared their thoughts on why they opposed the resolution were booed and heckled for their efforts.
Even giving polite applause to these brave souls was intolerable to some people. My wife and I found this out when one gentleman we never met before loudly tossed over his chair and told us what he really thought of us as he stormed out of the meeting.
As we all know, the resolution passed. I suppose people who are passionate about this issue likely feel that the ends justified the means.
I respectfully disagree for reasons too long to list. One that troubles me the most is that kids who were in attendance got to watch adults in the room conduct themselves in a way that our students would never be allowed to get away with in school, and achieve their political objectives. Is this the message we want to send? Surely we can do better than this.
As for the issue itself, I believe that the mayor and the council members that supported him made honest efforts under difficult circumstances to explain why this resolution was not in our township’s best interests. They easily could have just followed the latest political winds and saved themselves the trouble, but they instead chose to stay true to their principles. That is what strong leadership looks like. They can be assured that it has not gone unnoticed.
— Bill Varnavas, West Windsor
