The gun owner took a stand for gun control by sawing off the barrel of his AR-15 instead of selling it.
Scott Pappalardo from New York recorded a poignant video of himself destroying the gun in response to the deadly shooting in Parkland, Florida, last week.
He chose to render the gun useless instead of selling it, so it will ‘never be pointed at someone else’.
‘I’ve decided today, I’m going to make sure this weapon will never be able to take a life. The barrel of this gun will never be pointed at someone,’ Pappalardo said. He said he owned the gun for target shooting and had owned it for 30 years.
Scott Pappalardo of New York decided to take a stand on gun control – by destroying his own AR-15 rifle
Pappalardo spoke of the desire to keep his gun out of harmful hands, which he couldn’t guarantee by selling it – so he cut the barrel off with an electric saw
Pappalardo asked in his Facebook video, viewed more than 14 million times, ‘Is that right (to bear arms) more important?’ (than the victims killed in mass shootings)
Scott Pappalardo of New York State said that he was destroying his gun because of the recent mass shooting that left 17 people dead. Pappalardo also weighed the Second Amendment, of which is a supporter, against the danger and death that guns can cause.
Pappalardo said: ‘Is the right to own this weapon more important than someone’s life?’‘
In the video, Pappalardo says that weapons similar to his AR-15 have been used in other mass shootings. He also said that in the wake of the Sandy Hook shootings in 2012, he’d happily sacrifice his guns to save the life of a child.
Pappalardo said that he told his wife (the couple shown above) he’d give up his guns in order to save the life of even one child in the wake of the Sandy Hook shootings in 2012
‘Look at the pictures of those victims. Is that right (the right to own guns) more important?’ he said in the video.
Pappalardo also said he chose not to sell the gun because, in that instance, there is still a chance that it could be used for a violent act.
While he says that he enjoys shooting for fun at targets, he doesn’t want his weapons used for violent purposes.
Pappalardo also tagged his video #oneless, and called it his ‘drop in a very large bucket’. The video was viewed over 14 million times and has been shared over 280,000 times since being posted on Saturday.
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