This Sunday, 20 children from Newtown, Conn., won’t be greeting their mothers with a card, a gift, or a note of love.
Mark Barden, whose 7-year-old son Daniel was shot and killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December along with 25 other people, gave a tear-jerking interview to Rachel Maddow Thursday night. He described the special Mother’s Day card that the community of Newtown put together for the mothers whose children won’t be able to wish them a “Happy Mother’s Day” this year.
“My wife Jackie and I still, we cry together every day,” he said. “We still try to come to terms with, ‘Is this really possible that this actually happened to us and to this community to Newtown?’ And man, if that’s not evidence that it can happen here, it can happen anywhere. It can happen anywhere, any day.”
Barden also fought back against claims that the Newtown families are being used as political pawns in the gun reform debate.
“Do you not think I have my own reasons for doing this?” he asked, taking out a photo of his son. “Is that not reason enough?”
Barden is one of several family members of Newtown victims who have become vocal proponents of what they call “common sense” gun reform, giving impassioned pleas to Congress to urge them to take action. He promised to “go state-by-state” if he has to in order to convince legislators to pass stricter gun laws.
“When I say ‘common sense,’ this is just about firearm responsibility and safety. This is not infringing on anyone’s second amendment rights,” Barden said.
The Newtown father also fired back at one Republican senator for his comment that the Newtown mass shooting should have nothing to do with the gun debate.
“Senator Jim Inhofe said we have no business engaging in a debate,” Barden said. “And I called his office and asked to speak with him. He was too busy to speak with me.”
Barden said he gave the staff his cell phone number, but that he’s “still waiting for him to call me.”
Kailani Koenig