Pro-Gun Hecklers Shout At Father Who Lost Son In Newtown
About a dozen gun enthusiasts yelled “Second Amendment!” and “Do not infringe on our rights!” at Neil Heslin, who called for an assault weapons ban during a legislative hearing.
“That wasn’t just a killing, it was a massacre,” Heslin said before the Gun Violence Prevention Working Group at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford, Connecticut. “I still can’t see why any civilian, anybody in this room in fact, needs weapons of that sort. You’re not going to use them for hunting, even for home protection.”
He asked the crowd why assault weapons should not be banned. The crowd answered in shouts. The Connecticut Post put the number of hecklers at “as many as a dozen.”
3. Heslin’s son Jesse McCord Lewis was among the 20 children killed in December.
4. In his obituary, his family said that the 6-year-old “ran into the hallway to help when he heard the shots.”
[source]
5. [UPDATED] Listen to Heslin’s full comments here:
Gun rights advocates and others have suggested Heslin was not heckled, since the crowd was responding to a question Heslin asked. Others counter that Heslin’s question was rhetorical. But around the 15 minute mark you can hear shouts such as “Second Amendment” interrupting Heslin’s testimony. An official can then be heard reprimanding those who were yelling.
6. Here’s the transcript:
Heslin: “I don’t know how many people have young children or children. But just try putting yourself in the place that I’m in or these other parents that are here. Having a child that you lost. It’s not a good feeling; not a good feeling to look at your child laying in a casket or looking at your child with a bullet wound to the forehead. I ask if there’s anybody in this room that can give me one reason or challenge this question: Why anybody in this room needs to have one of these assault-style weapons or military weapons or high-capacity clips. [Looks behind his shoulder, then turns back forward.] Not one person can answer that question or give me an…”
People in the audience: “Second Amendment shall not be infringed,” other indistinguishable remarks.
Official: “Please no comments while Mr. Heslin is speaking. Or we’ll clear the room. Mr. Heslin, please continue.”
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- TheNorseWitch thinks Pro-Gun Hecklers Shout At Father Who ... is Powerful
- michellehobb thinks Pro-Gun Hecklers Shout At Father Who ... is Sad
- livelst thinks Pro-Gun Hecklers Shout At Father Who ... is WTF
- leab2 Pro-Gun Hecklers Shout At Father Who ... and thinks it’s Ew, Fail & Trashy
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- ronnic2 Pro-Gun Hecklers Shout At Father Who ... and thinks it’s OMG
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MisterBongo 3 months agoIf you don’t agree with what the guy is saying, fine, but at the very least they could have a goddamn shred of decency and not heckle a man whose child was murdered. The thing with the gun nuts today is that they are like the Taliban; no one’s opinion matters but theirs (not even a grieving father) and they’ll shut you up and might even kill you to keep it that way.
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DangerChalmers 3 months agoAmerica, the rest of e world is looking down on you. This is pathetic.
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Samantha Coll 3 months ago
The shooting was a horrible thing to have happened, sadly but truly people will kill other people with or without guns around, look at the Oklahoma city bombing, did he not make that bomb out of everyday items to kill those 100+ people? I may be wrong, I’ll admit I don’t think everyday civilians need military style guns. But I myself have 6 guns in my home, they are all for hunting deer and other game, and are safely locked up and out of reach. Anything can be a bad thing if in the wrong hands, cars kill, cause some people decide to drive drunk. I’m just a “kid” to some ya’ll and may seem to not make a valid point, but it makes sense to me.
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joeys8 3 months agoI don’t understand why people constantly try to parallel driving drunk to owning automatic weapons. Drinking and driving is already illegal. It isn’t like the cops are not actively trying to enforce the rules here. There are people that serve life sentences over drunk driving. Quit comparing the two. They have absolutely nothing to do with eachother.
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sharkfighter 3 months agoHey hey hey, everyone. These assholes don’t represent America, they are a VERY small (but loud) portion of the population of over 300 million people that make up this country. If you leave they will count for a larger percentage.
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LadyFrank 3 months agoWhat about this child’s right to go to school and feel safe? Or my right to go to a movie and not worry about being shot to death? I am so sick of the rights of gun nuts overriding the rights of people just living their lives. I also doubt that our Founding Fathers envisioned guns that would be able to fire 30 rounds in 27 seconds. This is all just so disgusting.
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FlickMontana 3 months ago
I agree with you on several points except: the first machine gun patent was filed in 1718. To get up to that rate (20 rounds in five seconds) we’d have to go all the way up to 1777. The only reason they weren’t produced was price. But yes, agreed with the point of your statement.
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leel3 3 months agoFeeling save and BEING safe are entirely different. As for your “Gun nuts” — the 2nd amendment is what sets America apart from other countries. Ask those in England, Australia, and China how their gun restrictions have gone. In fact; the Bobbies in London never NEEDED to carry guns until AFTER they banned guns!!! Our founding fathers knew forthright what they needed to include, as they just conquered the maniacal regime restricting them from these rights in the first place! It is our right to defend the gift of life — be it our own, or our families — from any evil that may wish to harm it. If you wish to excercise your right to defend yourself, or not — is up to you. Don’t speak for those who don’t rely on others for our own safety. Furthermore; DON’T TREAD ON ME or MY RIGHTS. Do us a favor - Call your local police department and ask them what their AVERAGE response time is. Also; The police are armed for THEIR protection; not yours. Very common misconception amongst the public. PS: I bet the response time isn’t what you expect.
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michaelm60 3 months agoPart of me wishes the father would “exercise his 2nd amendment rights” on these hecklers… Then the other part of me feels horrible about that.
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Heihachi Mishima 3 months agoguns don’t kill people. assholes like the ones in that audience kill people. it’s deplorable that the 2nd amendment crowd harps on the “shall not be infringed” language, but totally can’t grasp the “well regulated” part. I’m surprised these idiots aren’t bent out of shape that they can’t have F16s or ground to air missiles, too.
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leel3 3 months ago
The 2nd amendment is the ONLY amendmenent that has a defined purpose. As far as the “Well regulated” part — the people aren’t to be regulated, the Militia is. As far as this guy — i feel horible about his situation and can appreciate his aptitude and desire to change — and he’s got some good points; but — it wouldn’t have mattered if he used an AR-15, or a 2 shot derringer… He could have used anything; bow and arrow, etc. the victims were all 100% un-armed. Do some research on how many shootings have occured in “gun free zones” for this reason.
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hannahm22 3 months agoSo their right to bear arms is more important than every other persons right to be able to comfortably go to work/send their child to school/go shopping without fear of some idiot gunning them down? I’m not American, nor have I ever lived in America, so the idea of feeling the NEED to own a weapon designed to inflict as much death as possible as quickly as possible in order to feel “safe” is beyond me.
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leel3 3 months ago
The right to protect my life, and those of my family is the most important. It’s the only thing someone can take that I cannot replace. It’s the idiots that need sorting through — we’ve been skating mental health issues for several decades now; and now the mentally challenged are breeding this new spawn of idiot. If someone “Needs” to inflict as much death as possible as quickly as possible, they will do so — google “Timothy McVeigh”. Meanwhile; if you don’t want to utilize your 2nd amendment rights — be a victim. Don’t tread on me, or my constitutional rights.
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hannahm22 2 months ago
The constitution was formed in a time when automati weapons did not exist, I do not believe that it was ever intended to OK the private ownership of automatic weapons and shit tonnes of ammo. No one in my family has ever seen a gun (apart from my grandfather in the war) and none of us have ever been “victims” due to this. Studies have shown time and time again that having a gun in your home makes you more likely (sometimes 4.5 times as likely) to be killed by one. Look at papers from Harvard, Philadelphia, New Scientist and Pennsylvania. My concern is that you’re owing of a gun, having it your home where anyone can break into and get it, leading it to being in anyones hands including a childs could tread on my basic human rights toable to walk down the street ad not be killed by a maniac who had a bad day and 8574574 rounds of ammo and an automatic.
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leel3 3 months ago
Disgusting eh… maybe you should read about the 2nd amendment. It’s different than the rest — it’s got a defined purpose. That purpose is the freedom to defend ourselves; and the right of the people not to have those rights infringed by the government. If you seriously think taking the rights away from those who are following the law will prevent a massacre again — your logic is horribly flawed. Kind of like putting an intoxalyzer (drunk ignition interlock) on every car because some idiots drive drunk. All it does is make sure that someone can blow into a tube that isn’t drunk. Do i feel for this man — yes, I have a 9 yr old. Would i want change — sure — but; the route to fixing this problem has nothing to do with the guns, the capacity, or any of that. It has to do with psychopaths who roam freely in our society. Tighten down the mental health checks. Tie them to SS#’s — there are already background checks done with each gun sale and transfer. The people proposing this stuff have NEVER bought a gun! Look into it… Sounds to me, like your part of the problem rather than the solution.
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