ZIONSVILLE, Ind. — Mayor Emily Styron said she doesn’t regret posting an expletive-laced comment on Facebook during a heated debate around gun control.
“Seriously people… you should be WAY more upset that elementary students were gunned down in their classroom than I used the F-word. #priorities #momsdemandaction,” she posted in the wake of the backlash that followed.
It all began with a post from Robert Goodman Jewelers that encouraged businesses to become “gun free” spaces in the wake of the shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. Joel Bardach doesn’t live in Zionsville but follows the page and decided to comment his opinion.
“It’s a mental illness problem. Can’t get rid of the guns. Criminals don’t care. Good people don’t commit the assaults,” Bardach commented on the post. “Railing against only one aspect will never be the solution. Horrible place to be. No easy answer from anyone.”
Bardach said he didn’t check on Facebook again until the next day. That’s when he said he noticed a comment from a woman he didn’t know.
“It started out ‘Hey Joel Bardach, F you,’” Bardach recounted.
The person who replied was Mayor Styron.
“I am so sick and tired of the stupid, useless rhetoric by jack a**** like you when it comes to gun regulation. F****** sick and tired of mass murders if OUR F****** CHILDREN,” Styron commented. “It’s time for the majority who know that gun permits and banning automatic weapons is COMMON F****** SENSE. So yeah, F*** YOU.”
Bardach and Styron got in to a back-and-forth in which Styron referred to herself as the “f****** mayor of this town.” She later wrote that Bardach was a “f****** a******.”
“I never had a dispute for her passion or the issue. That’s legitimate for anybody. Everybody should be outraged,” Bardach said. “But I’m thinking if you want to have a conversation and think you’re gonna get anywhere, that’s not how you start it.”
In the days since, Styron’s comments have received a lot of backlash and some praise. However, she said she doesn’t regret what she said.
“I have absolutely every right to express my opinion and my outrage over an entire schoolroom with children being mowed down with a gun,” Styron said.
Styron pointed out that her comments were made using her personal Facebook profile. She’s happy to see her message on gun control being spread further because of how she said it.
“What I do know is that thanks to my language this message is going out in a larger scale then it would have been just sitting on my little Facebook page,” Styron said.
Bardach said he has nothing against the Mayor, but just wishes she would’ve approached the situation differently.
“If it means that much to you if you’re really that passionate about it then approach it like the professional you claim to be,” Bardach said.
The Indiana Democratic Party said it proudly stands behind the Mayor’s comments.
“Mayor Styron used her American right — quite colorfully— to speak up and demand action, because as a mother and like so many other Americans, she is sick and tired of children dying to senseless gun violence,” spokesperson Drew Anderson said in a statement.
The Indiana Republican Party called the mayor’s comments “disgusting” and called on her to apologize.
“The lack of leadership on display from Mayor Styron is yet another example that she is not fit for this office and that the people of Zionsville deserve better,” spokesperson Luke Thomas said in a statement. “It is clear that Mayor Styron’s term can’t end soon enough.”
