Father of Newtown victim: Ban assault weapons
WASHINGTON (AP) - Battling tears, the father of one of the first-graders slain at the December elementary school massacre in Connecticut pleaded with senators on Wednesday to ban assault weapons like the gun that killed his 6-year-old son.
"I'm not here for sympathy," Neil Heslin, a 50-year-old construction worker who said he grew up with guns and had been teaching his son, Jesse, about them. "I'm here because of my son."
Heslin spoke for 11 minutes, his voice barely audible and breaking at times, to the Senate Judiciary Committee that is deeply divided over the issue of curbing guns.
The panel was holding a hearing on a bill by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., to ban assault weapons and ammunition magazines that can carry more than 10 rounds. Feinstein and her allies said her measure would reduce the deaths such high-powered firearms can cause, but Republicans on the panel said the move would violate the constitutional right to bear arms and take guns away from law-abiding citizens who use them for self-defense.
Heslin said he supports sportsmen and the Second Amendment right for citizens to have firearms. But he said that amendment was written centuries before weapons as deadly as assault weapons were invented.
"No person should have to go through what myself" and other victims' families have had to endure, Heslin told the lawmakers.
He recalled the morning of Dec. 14, when 20-year-old Adam Lanza used a Bushmaster assault weapon to kill 20 first-graders and six staffers at the Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, Conn.
"He said it's all going to be OK," Heslin said his son told him when he dropped him off at school. He added, "And it wasn't OK."
Despite Newtown and other mass shootings, the bruising, difficult path through Congress that gun control legislation faces was underscored Wednesday when the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee said he opposes universal background checks for gun purchases, a central piece of President Barack Obama's plan for curbing gun violence. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., told reporters that the proposal could lead to creation of a federal gun registry - which the Obama administration has said will not happen.
Wednesday's Senate Judiciary hearing was its third since the Newtown tragedy made gun violence a top-tier national issue. The Judiciary panel could begin writing legislation as early as Thursday, but that session is likely to be delayed until next week.
Numerous relatives and neighbors of victims of Newtown, as well as other shootings at Aurora, Colo., and Virginia Tech filled the large hearing room.
At one point, Feinstein played a video showing how a bump fire slide, a piece of equipment added to an assault weapon, allows it to rapidly fire many rounds of ammunition, much as a machine gun would.
"The need for a federal ban has never been greater," Feinstein said.
The panel's top Republican, Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, expressed sympathy for gun violence victim, but said existing gun laws are not being adequately enforced, including background checks designed to prevent criminals from getting weapons.
"We should be skeptical about giving the Justice Department more laws to enforce" when it's not enforcing current ones, Grassley said.
Grassley said he believed Congress will eventually take action on boosting penalties for illegally trafficking guns, on more adequately keeping guns from people with mental problems, and encouraging states do a better job of reporting mental health records of potential gun buyers to the federal background check system.
At one point, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., used his questioning of Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn to argue that the current background check system is not being well enforced, since only a handful of the roughly 80,000 people annually who fail those checks are prosecuted for filing documents saying they qualify to own the weapons.
Uncharacteristically for a Senate hearing, Flynn interrupted the senator, saying, "I want to stop 76,000 people from buying guns illegally," a reference to the gun purchases that the background check system blocked last year. "That's what background check does."
His remark drew applause from spectators in the room.
Across the Capitol, the House Education and Workforce Committee planned to hear from school safety experts and counselors about how to keep students safe.
"How can we be confident that something like this does not happen again?" asked John Kline, R-Minn., the Republican panel's chairman as the meeting began.
His Democratic counterpart, Rep. George Miller of California, said school safety is linked to firearms.
"Sandy Hook is an event that calls us on us as policymakers to do something. ... A school must be a place where children feel secure," Miller said. "Turning schools into armed fortresses is not the answer."
Instead, he said schools need to add counseling services and mental health programs.
In their prepared testimony, witnesses there were careful not to endorse the NRA's suggestion that armed volunteers in schools were a realistic answer to prevent future attacks.
"I cannot emphasize enough how critical it is for officers to be properly selected and properly trained to function in the school environment," said Mo Canady, executive director of the National Association of School Resource Officers.
Despite the raw emotion, Feinstein's effort to ban assault weapons is expected to fall short due to opposition by the National Rifle Association and many Republicans, plus wariness by moderate Democrats.
Feinstein's bill has attracted 21 co-sponsors, all Democrats. Including herself, it is sponsored by eight of the 10 Judiciary panel Democrats - precarious for a committee where Democrats outnumber Republicans 10-8. Democrats on the panel who haven't co-sponsored the measure include the chairman, Pat Leahy of Vermont, who said Monday he hadn't seen the bill.
Obama made bans on assault weapons and large capacity magazines key parts of the gun curbs he proposed in January in response to the Connecticut school massacre.
The cornerstone of his package is a call for universal background checks for gun buyers, some version of which seems to have a stronger chance of moving through Congress. Currently, only sales by federally licensed gun dealers require such checks, which are designed to prevent criminals and others from obtaining firearms.
Feinstein's bill would ban future sales of assault weapons and magazines carrying more than 10 rounds of ammunition but exempt those that already exist. It would bar sales, manufacturing and imports of semiautomatic rifles and pistols that can use detachable magazines and have threaded barrels or other military features. The measure specifically bans 157 firearms but excludes 2,258 others in an effort to avoid barring hunting and sporting weapons.
Feinstein, who helped create a 1994 assault weapons ban that expired in 2004, and other supporters cite studies showing use of the firearms in crimes diminished while the prohibition lasted. A 2004 report said the proportion of gun crimes involving assault weapons dropped by up to 72 percent in five cities studied.
Opponents cite data from that same study showing assault weapons were used in only 2 percent to 8 percent of gun crimes, arguing that a ban would have little impact. The study also estimated there were 1.5 million assault weapons owned privately in the U.S. in 1994, and an estimated 30 million high-capacity magazines as of 1999, which critics say means exempting them would diminish a ban's effect
"I'm not here for sympathy," Neil Heslin, a 50-year-old construction worker who said he grew up with guns and had been teaching his son, Jesse, about them. "I'm here because of my son."
Heslin spoke for 11 minutes, his voice barely audible and breaking at times, to the Senate Judiciary Committee that is deeply divided over the issue of curbing guns.
The panel was holding a hearing on a bill by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., to ban assault weapons and ammunition magazines that can carry more than 10 rounds. Feinstein and her allies said her measure would reduce the deaths such high-powered firearms can cause, but Republicans on the panel said the move would violate the constitutional right to bear arms and take guns away from law-abiding citizens who use them for self-defense.
Heslin said he supports sportsmen and the Second Amendment right for citizens to have firearms. But he said that amendment was written centuries before weapons as deadly as assault weapons were invented.
"No person should have to go through what myself" and other victims' families have had to endure, Heslin told the lawmakers.
He recalled the morning of Dec. 14, when 20-year-old Adam Lanza used a Bushmaster assault weapon to kill 20 first-graders and six staffers at the Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, Conn.
"He said it's all going to be OK," Heslin said his son told him when he dropped him off at school. He added, "And it wasn't OK."
Despite Newtown and other mass shootings, the bruising, difficult path through Congress that gun control legislation faces was underscored Wednesday when the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee said he opposes universal background checks for gun purchases, a central piece of President Barack Obama's plan for curbing gun violence. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., told reporters that the proposal could lead to creation of a federal gun registry - which the Obama administration has said will not happen.
Wednesday's Senate Judiciary hearing was its third since the Newtown tragedy made gun violence a top-tier national issue. The Judiciary panel could begin writing legislation as early as Thursday, but that session is likely to be delayed until next week.
Numerous relatives and neighbors of victims of Newtown, as well as other shootings at Aurora, Colo., and Virginia Tech filled the large hearing room.
At one point, Feinstein played a video showing how a bump fire slide, a piece of equipment added to an assault weapon, allows it to rapidly fire many rounds of ammunition, much as a machine gun would.
"The need for a federal ban has never been greater," Feinstein said.
The panel's top Republican, Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, expressed sympathy for gun violence victim, but said existing gun laws are not being adequately enforced, including background checks designed to prevent criminals from getting weapons.
"We should be skeptical about giving the Justice Department more laws to enforce" when it's not enforcing current ones, Grassley said.
Grassley said he believed Congress will eventually take action on boosting penalties for illegally trafficking guns, on more adequately keeping guns from people with mental problems, and encouraging states do a better job of reporting mental health records of potential gun buyers to the federal background check system.
At one point, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., used his questioning of Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn to argue that the current background check system is not being well enforced, since only a handful of the roughly 80,000 people annually who fail those checks are prosecuted for filing documents saying they qualify to own the weapons.
Uncharacteristically for a Senate hearing, Flynn interrupted the senator, saying, "I want to stop 76,000 people from buying guns illegally," a reference to the gun purchases that the background check system blocked last year. "That's what background check does."
His remark drew applause from spectators in the room.
Across the Capitol, the House Education and Workforce Committee planned to hear from school safety experts and counselors about how to keep students safe.
"How can we be confident that something like this does not happen again?" asked John Kline, R-Minn., the Republican panel's chairman as the meeting began.
His Democratic counterpart, Rep. George Miller of California, said school safety is linked to firearms.
"Sandy Hook is an event that calls us on us as policymakers to do something. ... A school must be a place where children feel secure," Miller said. "Turning schools into armed fortresses is not the answer."
Instead, he said schools need to add counseling services and mental health programs.
In their prepared testimony, witnesses there were careful not to endorse the NRA's suggestion that armed volunteers in schools were a realistic answer to prevent future attacks.
"I cannot emphasize enough how critical it is for officers to be properly selected and properly trained to function in the school environment," said Mo Canady, executive director of the National Association of School Resource Officers.
Despite the raw emotion, Feinstein's effort to ban assault weapons is expected to fall short due to opposition by the National Rifle Association and many Republicans, plus wariness by moderate Democrats.
Feinstein's bill has attracted 21 co-sponsors, all Democrats. Including herself, it is sponsored by eight of the 10 Judiciary panel Democrats - precarious for a committee where Democrats outnumber Republicans 10-8. Democrats on the panel who haven't co-sponsored the measure include the chairman, Pat Leahy of Vermont, who said Monday he hadn't seen the bill.
Obama made bans on assault weapons and large capacity magazines key parts of the gun curbs he proposed in January in response to the Connecticut school massacre.
The cornerstone of his package is a call for universal background checks for gun buyers, some version of which seems to have a stronger chance of moving through Congress. Currently, only sales by federally licensed gun dealers require such checks, which are designed to prevent criminals and others from obtaining firearms.
Feinstein's bill would ban future sales of assault weapons and magazines carrying more than 10 rounds of ammunition but exempt those that already exist. It would bar sales, manufacturing and imports of semiautomatic rifles and pistols that can use detachable magazines and have threaded barrels or other military features. The measure specifically bans 157 firearms but excludes 2,258 others in an effort to avoid barring hunting and sporting weapons.
Feinstein, who helped create a 1994 assault weapons ban that expired in 2004, and other supporters cite studies showing use of the firearms in crimes diminished while the prohibition lasted. A 2004 report said the proportion of gun crimes involving assault weapons dropped by up to 72 percent in five cities studied.
Opponents cite data from that same study showing assault weapons were used in only 2 percent to 8 percent of gun crimes, arguing that a ban would have little impact. The study also estimated there were 1.5 million assault weapons owned privately in the U.S. in 1994, and an estimated 30 million high-capacity magazines as of 1999, which critics say means exempting them would diminish a ban's effect
We should report on this guy. http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dhXPlCjr0Vw
You can have all the rules, regulations and bans you want, but it will not stop the criminals, nut cases, or any one who is not supposed to have a gun from getting one will it?
"The need for a federal ban has never been greater," Feinstein said Â
News flash for you, Feinstein - the need for you to retire has never been greater, and while you are at it, take boxer and Pelosi with you.
I am always at a loss with people. The problem with people is that in their search for answers, they only come up with one good solution to fix everything. Assault weapons ban will fix this or that. One solution wont fix everything, just because you ban something, doesnt mean it will never happen again. Our failure as a society is not focusing on mental health, because we dont focus enough on it.Â
QUOTE:Â "No person should have to go through what myself" and other victims' families have had to endure, Heslin told the lawmakers." Â (from the story)"
Mister, you can't tread on my rights. YOU should have home-schooled, or sent your child to a school with an armed security force, like the Quaker school in D.C. where the elite go. I'll bet you weren't protesting when a child drowned in a pool or a mop bucket, or had a big-screen fall on them, or died in a car wreck, or was killed by medical malpractice, or was murdered by their own fatherâwhich happens, apparently.
**You know what the first "assault weapon" ban did? It dramatically raised sales of these firearms. And yes, I've got mine.**
"No person should have to go through what myself" and other victims' families have had to endure, Heslin told the lawmakers." Â (from the story)
I could not agree more... but until they start effectively ENFORCING the laws we already have, and focus on the "PEOPLE" problem, rather than just on inanimate objects (guns & magazines), we will continue to have shootings like CTC and Newtown...Â
Disarming the law-abiding gun-owners will NOT disarm the criminals and/or the mentally ill / unstable... it is as simple as that. Â Â
@margay1 Thank you, Margay.
Home schooling can save lives
@Bert not personal lives.......
It is the fools that believe this tripe that will cost the rest of us to loose our freedoms! Why are we hearing so much about taking weapons away from law abiding citizens and nothing about controlling the criminals!
@Freedom1267Â What criminals?
What an idiot. An "assault weapon" was never used in the shooting, two pistol were.
@axpman I realize the entire gun debate is a hot and heavy issue, but do you really think calling this grieving father "an idiot" is appropriate?  He said what he said....perhaps he's been under some stress?  Most of us know that an "assault weapon" is basically a rifle with ad-ons and that the ammo involved plays more of a role in how devastating his child's injuries were.  Maybe if you saw your butchered child's remains, you'd use an incorrect word too?  Just a thought.
@Sundowner Yes I do think he is an idiot, and it is appropriate to point that out. Do you really think the victims families of 911 would get any air time if they where calling for banning airplanes or shutting down Boeing? Blaming a gun is just as stupid.Â
@axpman @The Resistance It's attitudes like yours that move those who are fairly 'centrist' on the issue toward the left. Â
@Sundowner @axpman --- one thing I know is the new media continues to hound these poor people just like they did right after the shootings. There's not way they have had time to properly grieve. The politicians and media have done nothing but bombard them with how they should feel. My heart goes out to these people. Blood sucking politicians and media, leave these poor folks alone.
@Sundowner @axpman "that the ammo involved plays more of a role in how devastating his child's injuries were." that confused me. Otherwise nicely said.
@TreeWizard @Playanekes There's no way I could answer you about the ammo -- I'm not familiar and didn't save the explanation that was given me (by a man who owns a very extensive collection -- very well-versed).  More than anything he described the difference in exit wounds.....sickened me.  I just listened to a little bit of this father's testimony and no matter what he's calling for, it was really sad.  Â
@Sundowner @TreeWizard @Playanekes I said, that I agree with you. I don't think he should have been called an idiot either. I was just asking for clarification on the ammo is all.
@TreeWizard @Playanekes For all I care, he could have called it a N-Strike Maverick Blaster...I still think it unfair for anyone to call this poor man an idiot.  You know, Tree, this father could have been a major gun enthusiast until he had to identify the remains of his slaughtered child if, in fact, he had to do that.  IMO, all of the loved ones of these young victims deserve at least for people to treat them respectfully....calling any of them an idiot ain't it.
@Playanekes @TreeWizard Okay, I think we are on the same page.
@TreeWizard @Playanekes What I mean is, you could do more damage with a .308 or a 30-06 than with a .223, but, they're going after .223. Hell, a pipe bomb thrown through the window could have killed or maimed everybody in the classroom in seconds.
@Playanekes @TreeWizard ".308, .30-06... we're not talking common sense here." what do you mean?
@TreeWizard @Playanekes .308, .30-06... we're not talking common sense here. A $10 pipe filled with $10 gunpowder could be smuggled in a backpack into a gymnasium or a TSA screening line and do more damage than that.
My daughter's school did something interesting; the tinted all of the windows through which somebody outside of school grounds might be able to see inside or aim at people through the windows. Ie, if you're outside you can't see IN, but they can see you coming and lock down.Â
No way the old nuns are going to tote guns, but, I'm very impressed at everything they're doing (Clackamas Middle is dialed in, too) and I've learned that MOST of the the stuff schools have done to prepare are secret. I don't want to share what a teacher who is an old friend told me, but, it was good stuff.
@Playanekes That's why I am confused. There are several rounds that are far more devastating than a .223. 12 gauge buck or slug would pretty much be one and done.
@TreeWizard I agree. Grieving parents can be irrational--probably a survival cushion--and should be given a pass. (For example, part of the "IMSAFE" training for flying includes stuff like loss of a family member as a reason to avoid doing things like aviation.) You just have to let some of it go.
As to the wounds, .45 hollow points from a pistol would have done more damage. Not sure about 9mm or .38.  I don't want to think about pump shotguns like the ones Clebold and Harris had.Â
The guy's comments are completely whacked, but, I can't say I blame him. I absolutely support his right to make his point, up to the point of making criminals out of law-abiding citizens.
PBS, by the way, did an AMAZING Frontline series on Lanza and what the -real- problem was, which appears to be that his mom was trying so hard to find the right place for him that she moved him out of the one place he was most comfortable, and each time he was moved he had to readjust and learn to socialize with people who didn't know him and didn't want to accept him.
Maybe if we learned to teach kids accept Aspies and other people with disorders instead of giving them wedgies or shoving them in lockers, they wouldn't feel so alienated and abandoned by society. As soon as Lanza got into a good place he seemed to be doing alright, but then for some reason his mom pulled him out. I don't think she was a bad person. Apparently, she WASN'T the "doomsday prepper" "survivalist" gun-freak people made her out to be, and, simple trigger locks would have saved a lot of lives.
How can we do this without making criminals out of law-abiding people or blaming urban society or rednecks or single moms or all the f-cked up stuff people are piling on the issue while our national mental health care system is in total meltdown?
@Sundowner @TreeWizard Am not arguing with that. I was just wondering what you meant by "the ammo involved". Was the person that explained it to you referring to caliber or type of round like hollow point or FMJ?
@TreeWizard It was explained to me on another site that the wounds would be different depending on the ammo.  Whether that's true or not, doesn't matter to me.  No parent of one of those innocent children should be called an idiot for pouring his heart out in public, trying to get something done to prevent other parents from ever having to experience the same thing.
@axpmanThe Bushmaster was the primary weapon used in the attack:Â http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/18/us/connecticut-lanza-guns
@Max Quinn @axpman CNN is biased. Not to mention they are famous for hiring the mentally handicap (Piers).
@The Resistance @Playanekes @TreeWizard @Max Quinn @axpman Wow. I had no idea it would do that!Â
@TreeWizard @Bert Because they unedit what msnbc edits
@Playanekes @TreeWizard @Max Quinn @axpman ---niiiiice show and tell.
@Playanekes @TreeWizard @JTesla ---undocumented extra-terrestrials I think is the PC term sir!Â
@JTesla @Playanekes Call an AR-15 an assault rifles bothers me. It's like calling a M4 or M16 a machine gun.
@Playanekes I assume that you accidently replied to me there, because I continued with the jargon, complete with quotation marks, that was used by the person I was replying to. I consider a lead pipe, a knife, a rope, and a candlestick among other things to all be "assault weapons".
However, in the current use "assualt weapon" and "assault rifle" have been applied to the AR-15... I really don't care if that is right or not. Really, I don't care. I also don't care if people call magazine's clips. It just doesn't bother me in the least.
@Playanekes @TreeWizard @JTesla lol. Cumbria shootings that guy used a double barrel shot gun and a bolt action .22 and killed 12 people.
@TreeWizard@JTesla SIR! I am offended by your non-PC use of the word Aliens. They are "exoterrestials." On the other hand:
"If one of those things gets down HERE, then that will be all! ... you can just kiss all THAT goodbye!"
@TreeWizard@Max Quinn@axpman FYI, here's what Wikipedia says the guy who executed everybody in the Amish school used:
@JTesla He didn't use an assault weapon. If he used the Bushmaster, it was a semi-automatic rifle. The "assault" variation would be the M16. You've probably heard of them.
The issue with the confusion is that coroner's spokesperson, CNN and other media reported all kinds of divergent things, and then some news source claimed to have video of the police taking the rifle out of the trunk, suggesting it was never in the school.
If you watch the video I saw, it was clearly a shotgun they were taking out, not the alleged Bushmaster, which suggests he had the AR-15 on him.
Now, having said all that: WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE? Suppose he had just gone in with the pistol, and a bunch of low-capacity magazines. What were the kids going to do, fight back? IT'S NOT THE KIND OF GUN, IT'S THE FACT THAT HE HAD ONE, WHICH IS THE PROBLEM.
His mom should have had trigger locks and common, inexpensive safety mechanisms which, by the way, you can probably get for free from the sheriff's office. I'm not going to abuse her for it because she paid for her mistake dearly. The rest of us should learn from it.
@Bert @TreeWizard I don't listen to fox.
@TreeWizard How long did it take for CNN to get the shooters name right and FOX NEWS LIES
@Max Quinn @JTesla "In an online poll that was carried out by Zogbly in 2006 and published on its site, roughly 42 percent of Americans believe that 9/11 attacks was instigated by aliens. They believe that the government did not really make the truth known to the public about the alleged alien invasion as it would have cause more panic amongst the public."
@JTesla You take it. It's driving me nuts!
@JTesla I am pretty sure with the help of the History Channel of course. I can prove it was aliens. The same Aliens that helped build the pyramids.Â
@Max Quinn I should just let you handle the "he didn't use an assault weapon" smack down from now on.
@Max Quinn @TreeWizard @axpman What's Sarcasm? Redstate is clearly biased. Â
@TreeWizard @Max Quinn @axpman Sarcasm.. that's sarcasm, right? We're having trouble with the concept today.
Redstate's not biased, right? http://www.redstate.com/2012/12/27/setting-the-record-straight-adam-lanza-did-use-the-bushmaster-ar-15/
@axpman *sigh*
No, the initial reports were incorrect, an "assault weapon" was used, not pistols.
@JTesla That's funny. When they found his body there was no AR.
@axpman @JTesla Go away, you conspiracy theorists make the rest of us look bad.
@JTesla I believe the History Channel is saying it was aliens.