Oak Creek Mayor reacts strongly to San Bernardino shooting: "It's personal to me"

OAK CREEK -- The mayor of Oak Creek is well aware of the pain caused by mass shootings and now he's speaking up. In 2012, a gunman killed six people in the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin. Following the shooting in San Bernardino, Steve Scaffidi says we need to have an honest talk about gun violence.

"I've lived it. I've experienced every aspect and every phase of that immediate event and everything that's happened since. It's personal to me," said Oak Creek Mayor Steve Scaffidi.

Scaffidi says the events of August 5th, 2012 ensure he will never be silent on the subject of mass shootings.

"Instead of getting entrenched in our two camps about either you're all guns or no guns, there's got to be some nuance and subtlety to these arguments and these conversations," said Scaffidi.

He says whether the shooting was prompted by radical Islam, workplace anger, or both -- the slaying of 14 people highlights a public need to keep guns from violent people.

"I'm absolute on that; that has to be the case in this country. We can't afford to have people that shouldn't have guns running around with weapons, I'm sorry," Scaffidi said.

Scaffidi's open letter has a harsh tone at times, saying "we use silly arguments and fall back into entrenched, absolutist positions that may make us feel better as part of a defense of our own personal agendas or political tastes,'" said Scaffidi.

Scaffidi says he's gotten a large response, some of it positive and some of it not.

"People don't like it, they can come to me and tell me they don't like it -- and they have," Scaffidi said.

Critics say the letter points to a problem but fails to provide any solutions.

Scaffidi says, at this point, researching gun violence should be a top priority.

"How does it happen, what are the circumstances leading up to it, are there things we can put in place that are checkpoints that say, 'this might lead to this,' and then let's use law enforcement," said Scaffidi.

Scaffidi says he's absolutely against the idea of government taking guns from law-abiding owners. He adds he is also certain that more guns would not lead to fewer mass shootings. He says if that were the answer, the problem would already be solved, given the amount of guns already owned in the U.S.