A newly-elected school board member in a town bordering Newtown, Conn., has been called to resign after he posted on Facebook that he would buy his friends gun ammunition during the 26 days of kindness event meant to honor Sandy Hook victims.
Newtown’s 26 days of kindness asks people to “do one act of kindness, big or little, for 26 days with the last day being December 14th.”
Adam Lanza broke into Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14 of last year and fatally shot 20 first-graders and six women before killing himself.
Gregory Beck, A Brookfield Party (ABP) school board member-elect, said in response to the kindness event: “I shall buy my friends who are gun enthusiasts a box of ammunition on days 1-26.”
The Republican Town Committee called on Mr. Beck to step down from the board before his term begins, NBC Connecticut reported.
“This is about common decency and these are our neighbors in Newtown and people in this town were greatly affected by what happened there,” said Ray DiStephan, current chairman of the Brookfield Board of Education.
“People are entitled to their opinions but under these circumstances they should not have been made public on something like Facebook,” Brookfield First Selectman Bill Davidson told the station.
“I think we need to call for this gentleman not to take his position come the day he’s supposed to be sworn in,” he said.
ABP chairman Rob Gianazza defended the candidate for his comments.
“Greg made a Facebook post expressing his frustration at the anti-gun antagonists, not at the people of Newtown,” Gianazza wrote, the Brookfield Patch reported. “Does Greg owe an explanation of his post and to own it? You bet, and I will encourage him to do just that. Will I ask him to step down? Not in this lifetime.”
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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