Neil Heslin smeared by Connecticut gun group

[Luddly Neddite]

Neil Heslin Smeared By Connecticut Carry Gun Lobbying Group

A Connecticut gun lobbying group on Wednesday personally attacked the father of a Sandy Hook school massacre victim, accusing him of "profitting off of the tragedy" and saying a decade-old drug arrest makes him a "poster boy" for background check ineffectiveness.

Connecticut Carry, a nonprofit gun lobbying organization, singled out Neil Heslin, whose son Jesse Lewis was killed in the December school shooting, in a press release. Heslin has testified before Congress and attended events at the White House with President Barack Obama in support of increased background checks for gun purchasers.

We've seen the NRA and others throwing red herrings every which way so as to take attention away from the real issues and I suppose that shouldn't surprise us.

But this is going WAY too far.

I've seen this man on camera, talking about the death of his son, and its very obvious that he is a broken and fragile shell of what he was. Couldn't they leave him alone?

Same with the NRA doing robocalls in Newtown. Its obvious that the NRA targeted those people BECAUSE their children were murdered.

I hope Neil Heslin and other survivors have the strength to keep up the good fight.

And, I hope that those who disagree with them will understand that they have every right to use the media to get their message out. They also need to know that its NOT the survivors who profit from this and the other thousands of murders.

 

[FA_Q2]

Neil Heslin Smeared By Connecticut Carry Gun Lobbying Group

A Connecticut gun lobbying group on Wednesday personally attacked the father of a Sandy Hook school massacre victim, accusing him of "profitting off of the tragedy" and saying a decade-old drug arrest makes him a "poster boy" for background check ineffectiveness.

Connecticut Carry, a nonprofit gun lobbying organization, singled out Neil Heslin, whose son Jesse Lewis was killed in the December school shooting, in a press release. Heslin has testified before Congress and attended events at the White House with President Barack Obama in support of increased background checks for gun purchasers.

We've seen the NRA and others throwing red herrings every which way so as to take attention away from the real issues and I suppose that shouldn't surprise us.

But this is going WAY too far.

I've seen this man on camera, talking about the death of his son, and its very obvious that he is a broken and fragile shell of what he was. Couldn't they leave him alone?

Same with the NRA doing robocalls in Newtown. Its obvious that the NRA targeted those people BECAUSE their children were murdered.

I hope Neil Heslin and other survivors have the strength to keep up the good fight.

And, I hope that those who disagree with them will understand that they have every right to use the media to get their message out. They also need to know that its NOT the survivors who profit from this and the other thousands of murders.

Meh.

When you get involved in politics, that’s what happens. Make public calls for change and you are going to get answers. I highly doubt that you would simply stand by and accept it if he were calling for armed guards in schools and a gun on every corner.

The idea that someone is untouchable when getting into the political arena is rather silly. It sucks for him and unlikely that he even understood what he was getting in the middle of but there is no way around that simple reality. Politics is a gruesome business.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

He's not a politician. He's the broken parent of a dead child and I think that even the goddamned fucking heartless gun makers and lobbyists could have a little respect for that.

I also think the NRA's obvious TARGETING that community, just as they always do after a shooting, is just plain inexcusable.

 

[FA_Q2]

He's not a politician. He's the broken parent of a dead child and I think that even the goddamned fucking heartless gun makers and lobbyists could have a little respect for that.

I also think the NRA's obvious TARGETING that community, just as they always do after a shooting, is just plain inexcusable.

HE is not a politician. He has, however, entered in that realm when he started speaking out against guns. Again, you would not have a problem with this had he openly attacked a right that you wish to defend. Just because you disagree with this right does not make this any different. Those that hold the right he believes in also have a right to respond.

 

[Katzndogz]

Unfortunately for those people touched by tragedy, many of them want to become crusaders for a cause. This means they put themselves on the line. When you start telling other people what to do, they quickly forget your personal tragedy.

 

[Pogo]

He's not a politician. He's the broken parent of a dead child and I think that even the goddamned fucking heartless gun makers and lobbyists could have a little respect for that.

I also think the NRA's obvious TARGETING that community, just as they always do after a shooting, is just plain inexcusable.

HE is not a politician. He has, however, entered in that realm when he started speaking out against guns. Again, you would not have a problem with this had he openly attacked a right that you wish to defend. Just because you disagree with this right does not make this any different. Those that hold the right he believes in also have a right to respond.

Can you elaborate for me what he did in the way of "speaking out against guns"? I did a brief search but came up empty. TIA.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

He's not a politician. He's the broken parent of a dead child and I think that even the goddamned fucking heartless gun makers and lobbyists could have a little respect for that.

I also think the NRA's obvious TARGETING that community, just as they always do after a shooting, is just plain inexcusable.

HE is not a politician. He has, however, entered in that realm when he started speaking out against guns. Again, you would not have a problem with this had he openly attacked a right that you wish to defend. Just because you disagree with this right does not make this any different. Those that hold the right he believes in also have a right to respond.

Can you elaborate for me what he did in the way of "speaking out against guns"? I did a brief search but came up empty. TIA.

I have never ever posted against the 2nd Amendment.

 

[whitehall]

Lobby groups sometime do crazy things and even if they don't the left wing propaganda network that never sleeps (and doesn't pay taxes) Media Matters is ready and willing to spin every comment to make a political point.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Lobby groups sometime do crazy things and even if they don't the left wing propaganda network that never sleeps (and doesn't pay taxes) Media Matters is ready and willing to spin every comment to make a political point.

Perhaps you could take a moment to point out the "spin".

Fact is, they targeted this poor wrecked man, just as they have always targeted victims of shootings.

 

[FA_Q2]

I have never ever posted against the 2nd Amendment.

I apologize if I have mischaracterized your previous statements on this board. I did not mean to mischaracterize your positions. I had thought you had mad some statements in one of my other threads I am engaged on bout gun control. I was incorrect. I do have to ask though, do you agree or disagree with Heslin’s statements about gun controls though?

That still does not change my original statements though. If you place yourself in the public eye then you are going to be countered.

He's not a politician. He's the broken parent of a dead child and I think that even the goddamned fucking heartless gun makers and lobbyists could have a little respect for that.

I also think the NRA's obvious TARGETING that community, just as they always do after a shooting, is just plain inexcusable.

HE is not a politician. He has, however, entered in that realm when he started speaking out against guns. Again, you would not have a problem with this had he openly attacked a right that you wish to defend. Just because you disagree with this right does not make this any different. Those that hold the right he believes in also have a right to respond.

Can you elaborate for me what he did in the way of "speaking out against guns"? I did a brief search but came up empty. TIA.

He has testified before congress supporting gun control. He has testified in another public herring in Connecticut. He has had interviews with Chris Matthews and Frontline. He not only placed himself in the limelight but he has done so repeatedly. He keeps getting out there because his story is riveting. A clear and powerful statement that he makes like this:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/front...er-of-newtown-victim-something-has-to-change/

He got out the back of the truck. He gave me a big hug, just held me, embraced me and rubbing me and patting me on the back, and he said: “It’s going to be alright. Everything’s going to be OK Dad.” I didn’t think much of it.

Then we walked in the school. He holds my finger — not my hand but my finger — and walking across the parking lot he said to me, “Too bad we didn’t make the gingerbreads last night.”

He has a powerful and heart wrenching story and the gun control advocates are using it in hearings and through interviews.

I don’t much agree with the attacks against him. It has nothing to do with him being the father of a victim though. He mad that political by his own decision. It does have to do with his position though; he calls for elimination of ‘military type’ weapons and better mental/criminal background checks. While I disagree with the first, I don’t think that it is a good idea going after him because there will be people like luddly here that it angers. It is not a good idea when you are not taking a hardliner approach to treat them as a hardliner. The gun advocates argument might be weak here but I don’t think the anger here is justified because it was Heslin that put himself out there. It is the nature of the beast.

Note that he was also heckled when he had his public hearing in Connecticut. That I disagree with this more strongly as that makes gun advocates look like children. There is no reason to stand up and heckle someone that is speaking out, particularly in his situation.

 

[PaulS1950]

There was no heckling at that hearing. The crowd was completely respectful until he asked if anyone could give a reason to own an assault rifle. Even then the crowd remained respectfully quite. It wasn't until he chided the audience with "I didn't think so" that the audience let loose with comments to answer his question.
The audience show tremendous restraint while he told his story but when he asked question and told the folks there there was no reason to own the specific type of gun that they reminded him of the second amendment.
Then the moderator stopped the comments because they were not there to get a reason to own the guns they were there to build a case for banning them.

I empathize with his loss. What I don't understand is how anyone can live through that - knowing that the police couldn't prevent the crime and couldn't respond in time to save lives - and decide that restricting guns in the hands of law abiding citizens is a good idea.

The gun murder rate in this country is down to almost 50% of what it was in the 1990s. During that same period there have been over 30% more guns sold to law abiding citizens. Laws allowing concealed carry have been passed in almost every state. If "gun nutters" are so unstable why, with more guns, are the gun murder rates dropping so dramatically?

I think the real "nutters" are those who think that restricting what guns we can buy is a good idea.

 

[FA_Q2]

There was no heckling at that hearing. The crowd was completely respectful until he asked if anyone could give a reason to own an assault rifle. Even then the crowd remained respectfully quite. It wasn't until he chided the audience with "I didn't think so" that the audience let loose with comments to answer his question.
The audience show tremendous restraint while he told his story but when he asked question and told the folks there there was no reason to own the specific type of gun that they reminded him of the second amendment.
Then the moderator stopped the comments because they were not there to get a reason to own the guns they were there to build a case for banning them.

I empathize with his loss. What I don't understand is how anyone can live through that - knowing that the police couldn't prevent the crime and couldn't respond in time to save lives - and decide that restricting guns in the hands of law abiding citizens is a good idea.

The gun murder rate in this country is down to almost 50% of what it was in the 1990s. During that same period there have been over 30% more guns sold to law abiding citizens. Laws allowing concealed carry have been passed in almost every state. If "gun nutters" are so unstable why, with more guns, are the gun murder rates dropping so dramatically?

I think the real "nutters" are those who think that restricting what guns we can buy is a good idea.

Interesting. I have not seen a video, just read some articles on it. Thanks for the info, I am going to have to find some video of the event.

I have to say that if you are right, and I suspect you are, that this shows the bias in news and affirms why I do not trust and often do not use media outlets for information anymore. The articles cited things like ‘chanting’ and ‘heckling’ which are subjective terms used solely to change or strengthen the point of the article.

 

[Stephanie]

lol, this gun control loser get in the fray and then WHINES when he is supposedly SMEARED

my heart bleeds purple Kool-Aid for him

 

[Pogo]

lol, this gun control loser get in the fray and then WHINES when he is supposedly SMEARED

my heart bleeds purple Kool-Aid for him

Oh the irony...

 

[tipofthespear]

Lobby groups sometime do crazy things and even if they don't the left wing propaganda network that never sleeps (and doesn't pay taxes) Media Matters is ready and willing to spin every comment to make a political point.

Perhaps you could take a moment to point out the "spin".

Fact is, they targeted this poor wrecked man, just as they have always targeted victims of shootings.

This guy not withstanding........do you have any articles/evidence that they ever "targeted" the victims who died in the Ft. Hood shootings?

I do not support the NRA, but I do support the Constitution.......FYI.......aren't "blanket" remarks of a negative nature as harmful as those of the NRA, or any other Special Interest Group?

 

[M14 Shooter]

Ironic that those who use the Newtown shooting to further their own efforts to limit the 2nd amendment rights of the law-abiding take exception to those who do the same thing in an attempt to oppose said limitations.

To the anti-gun crowd, those dead kids are a means to an end, and nothing else.

 

[bodecea]

lol, this gun control loser get in the fray and then WHINES when he is supposedly SMEARED

my heart bleeds purple Kool-Aid for him

^ Typical Right Winger.