Was Neil Heslin, the father of six-year-old Sandy Hook victim Jesse Lewis, heckled by gun enthusiasts at Monday’s public hearing when he called for stricter gun laws?
Some people initially thought so, but are now having second thoughts.
“#SandyHook parent wasn’t ‘shouted down’ as I said in previous tweet. He asked for response and audiences members gave it and were admonished,” Anderson Cooper tweeted last night.
David Frum weighs in here.
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Conservative writer Michelle Malkin was among the first to call out those who referred to the exchange between Heslin and the largely pro-gun audience as “heckling.” Her Twitchy website has a compilation of the various comments post on Twitter about the controversy.
You can judge for yourself by watching Heslin’s testimony on CT-N. Heslin’s emotional testimony begins at the 53 minute mark; the exchange that prompted the controversy is near the end, at the 1:06 mark.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
49 Responses to Was Neil Heslin Heckled? Watch and Judge for Yourself
About Capitol Watch
The Hartford Courant’s Capitol Watch blog provides insightful and in-depth coverage of Connecticut politics... read more- -- ADVERTISEMENT --
NEW! CT Politics App.
Courant.com brings you the latest CT political news, blogs, tweets and photos, powered by the Hartford Courant and FOX CT.
Download it now:
- -- ADVERTISEMENT --
Good point. Perhaps he wasn’t heckled. But the man is so ever whelmed with grief that,even responding to his rhetorical question was in poor taste. I chanced a quick chat with him after the testimony and one can desert the pain first hand.
So I ask what did it advantage to respond to his very painful question. I say that he wasn’t heckled but it was in extremely poor taste to oblige him.
are these contortions painful? They must be
I read some of the remarks to David Frum and it simply augments my argument that the pro gunner membership is made up of those whose reptilian side dominates their lives.
Shameful but I am not surprised. We will have our major gun reform in spite of their staunch resistance. But unless we sue to outlaw most guns, it will still fall short. Of reducing gun violence.
Repeal the 2nd, require gun owners to hand the guns in, and perhaps in 100 years, we will have a safer society to live in for future generations.
Billy, I think you are correct. Eventually we will get to a mostly gun-free future. Going to take decades. Most of the world is already there for very good reasons. Smart people with access to all the data, independently in each country, came to the inescapable conclusion. We carry the albatross of the Second Amendment around on our necks. People used to smoke cigarettes everywhere and now you can’t smoke anywhere. The public health issues of smoking finally had undeniable truth and gravity. This from a former smoker. Society changes slowly.
let the name calling beging, now that logic and reason have proven ineffective to the ‘repealers’.
“Most of the world is already there for very good reasons”. You’re right Mike. Tyranny and absolute control are great reasons, for those in power. Ask the citizens of Egypt, Syria, Iran, and others if they would like a second amendment.
Using the smoking issue is an argument in favor of the second amendment, not the other way around. So is the issue of large soft-drinks in NYC. Government should not be dictating personal behavior. Personal behavior is about individual freedom and responsibility, as long as it does not affect others. Government laws take away choices that should be in the hands of the individuals.
Eventually, they will come after one of your choices that you cherish (such as the First Amendment – ask the creator of the notorious video being blamed for Benghazi whos is STILL in jail, and for what?). It will be interesting to hear you defend the government because there are ‘very good reasons’.
Society changes slowly. Freedoms disappear overnight when we don’t defend them. Thank you for being among those who would erode our freedoms for your own personal reasons.
Wild Billy, you have a much better chance of being shot in Hartford with an illegal handgun than you do of getting the 2nd Amendment replealed.
Thanks for playing.
The only realistic way the 2nd could be repealed is if a Conservative Justice retires or dies before a Conservative can be elected President.
If that happens, and it coincides with Democrats controlling both Houses of Congress, I believe they will declare the Constitution irrelevant and make their own Constitution.
Then the tyranny and downfall of America can really accelerate.
Jongalt: I am surprised at your mistake. You should know that the process of repeal is both a Congressional and a state legislature function. The Court has no influence in it.
But I forgive you, Doctor.
I made no mistake. I am perfectly aware of the Constitutional way to repeal the 2nd. There is no chance of that happening.
My point was that if Democrats holds the Presidency, Congress, and a majority on the Court, the Legislature and Executive Branch will disregard the Constitution’s rules and change the Amendment process as it slows their “progress”.
Given that there are already 4.5 Justices that openly disdain the Constitution as written, one more would allow the Court to ignore an unconstitutional power grab by the Legislative and Executive Branches, and deem it Constitutional.
then, if repeal gets his wish, we can protest the power grab and dissolution of our law with nerf balls. We certainly won’t have any tools to threaten such tyranny with
“The only realistic way the 2nd could be repealed is if a Conservative Justice retires or dies before a Conservative can be elected President.”
Your words? Sorry. Then you are in error. At least I admit when I am wrong. You seem not to be able to do so.
Billy,
You are mistaking your inability to comprehend my statement with that statement being incorrect.
The 3rd word of my statement was “realistic”. That word is known as a qualifier or modifier. It was used to indicate that legal and Constitutional methods could not successfully be used to repeal the 2nd.
The most amusing thing about all of this is you libs fail to see the value of Congress acting in a Constitutional manner. It is almost as if you have fallen into the age old trap of thinking that just because liberals are currently in power, they will always be in power.
I would be interested in any examples of wildbill admitting that he was wrong
Obama is already working on the irrelevancy of the Constitution, through executive orders and illegal appointments. But if people were really paying attention to his words instead of his personality, they would know that – he did say he was going to ‘radically transform’ America. And he has expressed his disdain for the Constitution, both in words and actions as well as his associations (can you say ‘Jeremy Wright’?)
Johngalt; There you go playing semantics again. It must make you feel superior. I do recall that you are the one who has posted a statement then later explains that you didn’t show opinion but only posted for the sake of posting. Which of course made me wonder why you posted in the first place other then to play games.
it’s called ‘english’ wildbill, not semantics. Like Johngalt said: “You are mistaking your inability to comprehend my statement with that statement being incorrect.”
I know however, I difficult journey should not be considered based on the bumps.
I agree, let the man ask his question for dramatic effect and the gallery should have kept their mouths shut. Perhaps not heckling, but indeed poor taste.
was there no ‘dramatic effect’ in answering his question? Or would you prefer that all dissenting opinions be silenced, even though the question was begging an answer? Who decides when a question can be answered and when it can’t? Something tells me we all know the answer
You can’t seriously think that “dissenting opinions” were silenced when the place was full of pro-2A folks,of which i am one. The hearings were not a conversation between the gallery and the individual giving testimony regardless if the man wanted to challenge the gallery.
The rules were clear- The individual giving their testimony would talk, the rest of the people there were to be silent, and thusly given their chance at the microphone. Did the guy provoke? Sure, but it doesn’t help our cause to scream out “SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED” when a grieving father is testifying, regardless of whether his question was directed at the audience or not. The debate isn’t with the father of a slain child, it’s with the legislators.
Again, very poor taste in my book. Plenty of pro 2A had their chance to speak, they should have left the poor man alone.
Greg; Thank you for expressing this. Respectfully, we are on opposite sides on this one but I clearly agree with you. I spent Tuesday in the legislative meeting in Newtown and as family members of the lost testified, there was not a dry eye in the house – for an hour. And one of them remained a supporter of gun rights and it didn’t matter. My heart didn’t close for him as he spoke.
Greg: thanks for the response. I agree with you tht it was in poor taste.
I also think that if someone issues a challenge, an answer should be expected. Let’s not lay all the blame on those who were being challenged.
Kim; there you go. We agree on something.Small though it is.
At 15:17 he asks a question whether anyone needs these assault style weapons. No one responds. He then confirms that no one responds. And people from the audience can be audibly heard to mutter something. (15:34) It sounds like heckling to me… More than in poor taste… But since the tragedy unfolded in December, the NRA gun nut psychos have demonstrated a callous indifference to the cold blooded murder with a Bushmaster AR 15 of 20 children who died without comfort of mother or father… They have twisted reality to deny the event, they have belittled the victims by their very crassness, they have twisted American principles, they have made assertions that were downright false… So this heckling is just one more example of the overall callousness toward the death of those 20 children…
They being the NRA gun nut psychotics…
Why are law abiding citizens who belong to the NRA called gun nut psychotics? Why are we expending energy trying to protect a few dozen victims when thousands are murdered each year with illegal guns?
Why? Because liberalism is a mental disorder. The hypocrisy of liberals is stunning.
the brown shirts in Germany were very patriotic, law-abiding and conservative. And please don’t tell me that they were socialists because they used the word. They were very law-abiding and very patriotic.
I see. So now NRA members are brown shirts? So in your world there are liberals and evildoers. Do I have that right Billy?
Please seek some help. You’re beginning to jump the shark again.
more made up ‘facts’ from the master of deception. To call the brown shirts ‘law abiding’ is an insult to history and the truth. Their strong-arm tactics are legendary, even before they became the SS.
Let’s review some of Hitler and the Nazi’s 25 point program:
1. Ultra powerful central government.
2. Abolition of unearned income.
3. Nationalism of industy.
4. Equal Division of profits throughout industry.
5. Expansion of old age welfare.
6. Substitution of German Common Law for any Roman or religious based law.
7. Destruction of religion, and replacement of all religious based activity with State activity. Christianity is OK as long as it is not Catholic, Lutheran, or at odds with German Common Law.
8. Universal state paid and provided higher education.
9. Mandatory physical fitness programs.
10. State control of the media.
I’ll follow your wish that we ignore the fact that the Nazi’s were self-proclaimed Socialists. Are we to ignore the fact that many of the tenats of Nazism were both Socialist, and directly in line with the desires of the current US Democratic Party?
Which of these items would be supported by current US “right wing Conservatives”?
CDT; Calm down, now. Although it was rhetorically said, it is not unusual for those on your side of the bars – the inside, to throw glib insults like that. Having said that, I do note a distinct inflexibility when speaking to pro gunners to understand cause and effect and reason – hence equating them to brown shirts is…well, Okie Dokie with me. Look, I have no problem with the concept of protecting ones home with a shotgun – yes double-barrel even two or three double barrel guns. but I say no to these semi autos. sorry. The free ride is over. They will be collected and payment should be given to said owners and financing should be collected by way of a tax on arms and ammo.
I can already see the handwriting on the wall. you guys flooded the LOB on Monday with NRA auto drones with all the same exact talking points (they didn’t have a brain in their heads to think individually) but our side flooded Newtown High on Tuesday where it really counted. Society via our law makers is going to respond positively to the families of the lost thank God.
The free ride is over. Get used to it.
CT: Because they act like it. Read again Steven’s words.
Rally,
Do you realize the main effect of the emotion based drive by the left to accomplish an essentially meaningless ban on “assault rifles” has been an exponential increase in the sale and private ownership of those weapons?
And you think the 2.5 million existing AR-15′s are going to be confiscated? Are you serious? First of all, the government had no idea where the vast majority of these guns are. Secondly, who is going to volunteer to raid the homes of the owners of these weapons when those owners know the Feds are coming to confiscate the weapon they are allowed to have for just such a situation?
and you call the NRA ‘nuts’ and accuse them of ‘twisting facts’? Please review your post
Well Kimmerian, I would rather do a mock-up psychological profile on some of these fanatic angry and insecure gun collectors. I think you will find that many of them had a lack of sufficient maternal attachment early in the development cycle. Their needs then grow later in life to identify and attach themselves to objects of power such as firearms or even unconventional human contact with a strong father figure.
Yes, that is a mock up. Dripping with delusions, insecurities and paranoias, but a mock up. If you could, you might try reality-based assesments, but we know that not possible, don’t we.
I did the first time and someone became quite unhinged.
It’s quite impossible to read your post without it becoming quite clear that you have serious issues. The likelehood that YOU don’t see that says a lot about your posts and your character, repeal. No surprises, though
http://assets.amuniversal.com/d047c2004b9901301213001dd8b71c47?width=1000.0
Mike: I know Kim from previous blogs. Very crazy.Very angry. And he owns a gun. Imagine that.
If Kim only knew that he is now in the FBI data base. Oops.
@ Mike: What WildBilly doesn’t tell you is that he calls the US Secret Service when someone denigrates his beloved Dear Leader. He’s a few cards short of a full deck and it would seem he’s headed back to the IOL for another tuneup.
Now Billy, play nice. Can’t we all just get along?
CT: It is not nice to mess my president. And I believe in protecting what is of great vale to me.
Rick Green: why does ‘Repeal’ and ‘Rally’ have free reign here but you remove others’ posts that are clearly less offensive or personally identifiable? Why do you allow someone to register with several different names and post as if they were different people?
Just asking
Did anyone see the MSNBC video? They intentionally edited the tape to make it look like heckling.
Another new low from Obama’s press corp at MSNBC.
Hey Capital Watch; so what do you think? We are a bunch of nut cases, yes? We would be most likely to shake hands with each other in person and chat a bit as I do on occasion. In fact, I was number 2 to speak in Newtown second to number 1 who was on the opposite side of my values. but we had a wonderful and, I should say, engaging banter over the issues. In fact I could have been first to speak but I gave him my spot. We both were non residents so we had to wait for residents of Newtown to speak first. i waited until 11 PM before I walked. It was to close at 11:30. Nobody spoke from outside. but I am so glad that I attended since it was emotionally engaging to hear the families of the lost.They say before battle you have to drink something or listen to your king. I lost my footing on Monday but found my source of purpose on Tuesday. I remain working hard for a turnout at the Capital on Feb 14 at 11 that will be be so much larger then the few hundred at the pro gun rally. We will show the state and the nation and the world that we mean to finally address this disease of gun availability in our country. Gotta go. The posters just came in.
can’t decide which of your personalities to speak for you, wildbill? Run out of meds? why don’t you inform us all just how many login names you have on these posts for the sake of honesty and full disclosure? Afraid that it might detract from your vision (known to the rest of us as ‘hallucinations’)? and agenda?
gee, wildbill (or whichever personality is here today), you’re kind of like the morbid, twisted individual who attends the funerals of strangers, now aren’t you? Issues, issues.
Hold the line, Kim.