Parents Of Newtown Victim Tell Lawmakers To Ask Themselves ‘What Would Daniel Do?’

In a Washington Post op-ed that ran Wednesday, Jackie and Mark Barden urged political leaders to approach the debate on gun violence the way their son Daniel approached life.

“Daniel believed in holding doors open for strangers. He talked to the person sitting alone. He loved to help clean up a mess, and he made sure there was enough milk for everyone before adding it to his cereal,” his parents wrote, and said that relatives created a page called, What Would Daniel Do?,” to help his legacy live on.

“As lawmakers and others discuss what can be done to curb gun violence, we hope Americans will ask, What would Daniel do?” the Bardens wrote in their op-ed, which ran the same day as a Senate judiciary committee hearing on gun violence.

“Our nation’s ability to deal with gun violence is limited only by the civility of our discourse, the scope of our ambitions and — as Daniel would have done — our willingness to come together and take action,” they said, and called for the end of “political squabbling.”

“Any improvement to our laws, no matter how small or reasonable, should not be decried as the forward wave of an attempt to “ban guns” or “take away rights.” Even those of us who have lost the most are suggesting no such thing.”

Read the full op-ed here.