He said, 'everything's going to be ok, Dad, it's all going to be ok.' And it wasn't ok."

[kpete]

WASHINGTON - Neil Heslin, whose son Jesse McCord Lewis was killed in the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., gave moving testimony on Wednesday during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the assault weapons ban proposed by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).

"As Jesse was getting out of the truck (the morning he died), he leaned in and hugged me," Heslin said, weeping openly as he held up a portrait of his son. "I can still feel that hug, and that pat on the back. He said, 'everything's going to be ok, Dad, it's all going to be ok.' And it wasn't ok."

The night of the shooting, Heslin said, "I waited in that firehouse until one in the morning, until I knew Jesse was confirmed dead ... I have to go home at night to an empty house, without my son."

Heslin's son Jesse was one of the 20 children and six educators who were shot and killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in mid-December. A group of Newtown residents attended the hearing, and sat behind Heslin as he spoke. The hearing room was silent except for the sound of weeping.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/27/neil-heslin-assault-weapons-ban-newtown_n_2774598.html

[madokie]

1. Man o man

Just so a few can have their war machine toys, so sad

[malaise]

2. He's using that boy as a prop

Expect to hear that from then NRA - he'd better get over his grief before the Psychiatrist Association has him locked up and on big pharma's meds.

Seriously this is way too sad.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

5. Those POS already messed with him during his earlier testimony in CT.

And I'm not just talking about the whole "heckled vs. answering a rhetorical question" debate when they were shouting out "shall not be infringed!" when Heslin asked for what reason anyone would need a weapon like that.

Earlier in that same testimony, some piece of shit pulled a fire alarm just as Heslin was talking about his son.

Fuck them. I cannot stand them. Fuck. Them.

[blm]

7. My brother lost his 18yo daughter and her boyfriend to a drugged and drunk driver in 2008 - he

grieves every day of his life, especially difficult since, as a firefighter and an EMS worker he is charged with saving the lives of others.

I have thought a lot about this and am not sure at all that I could bear to live should my child's life be taken so senselessly, so savagely.

[laundry_queen]

10. Ditto your last sentence

It is something I cannot - and don't want to - imagine. Not sure I could go on.

[malaise]

13. How can you

You wonder and you grieve for the rest of your life.
Now just imagine you dropped off you six year old and those were his last words - that stays with you forever.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

14. I'm not going to lie to you.

I don't think there's ever been a news story that's haunted me as much as the Sandy Hook Elementary story. Not even 9-11, Katrina or the Iraq War, as devastating as those stories have all been.

I think it really has to do with me being a father. And dropping my daughter off at the school since the tragedy, I have on occassions had horrific thoughts--truly horrific thoughts--of me being in the same situation that those parents have been forced into.

Yes, I know that the chances of anything similar happening personally to me or my family are near zero. But that doesn't mean the tragedy hasn't hit home for me or hasn't spurred me for action.

[HangOnKids]

16. Sandy Hook Haunts Me Too

I am a single Mom and it is 24/7 my gig to take care of my daughter. I know I could not go on if something happened to her. To be honest, I don't think I would even try.

[malaise]

17. Neil Heslin is on Tweety right now

and I know what you mean - I don't remember a mass killing in the US hitting me so hard.

[CTyankee]

21. It happened to my brother and he went with it to his grave...

[Tommy_Carcetti]

3. Watching that, as a father, felt like a punch in the gut.

Suggestion though for viewers of the story. Do not read the viewer comments. If you have any illusion in the goodness of humanity, do not read them.

Can't believe there are people out there who seriously believe the true "victims" are AR-15s and 30 round magazines. Because frankly my dears, I don't give a fuck about your AR-15s or 30 round magazines.

SMH.

[laundry_queen]

12. "out there" ?

God, we have them HERE at DU!

It's truly and utterly sickening to anyone with a molecule of humanity in them.

[Cha]

4. Bless his heart. I hope they beat the nra.

[TheCowsCameHome]

6. Who will be the first NRA dirtbag

to dismiss this testimony? LaPyourrear? Co(ck)x? Other?

You just know they'll say something repulsive.

How I hate that outfit.............

[Tommy_Carcetti]

8. There are quite a few of those yahoos in the comment section. nt

[TheCowsCameHome]

19. Those are the probably NRA whores, doing what they do best.

[jmg257]

9. I was able to have the whole hearing on in the background.

Of course his testimony was incredible...very moving.

Overall I think it went rather well for reasonable gun control.

The LE rep was awesome, the Colorado DA very good, the Philly Mayor had some very good points too.

I think things are looking up for some controls passing.

[JI7]

11. i can see his pain but it has to be far worse than we all think

i don't think it's anything people can get over. it's just something they have to learn to live with. he still has to face almost the whole year for the first time without his son.

but i think even decades later there will always be thoughts of what his son could/would have been .

it really does seem to be one of the worst things that can happen to anyone.

[deutsey]

29. Yes

"it's just something they have to learn to live with."

My grandfather died in a car accident before I was born, when my mom was 12. It was the day after Christmas. Although she has in many ways learned to live with his death, she still feels the pain of that loss all these years later, especially around the holidays.

One of the dumbest things anyone can say to someone who's grieving is "get over it." In many cases, especially when the loss is sudden and violent, people don't get over it...they just learn the best way they can to live with it.

[myrna minx]

15. .

I don't even know what to say.

[freshwest]

18. A parent knows the truth of Obama's words even before this shooting. He said it better than I can:

Someone once described the joy and anxiety of parenthood as the equivalent of having your heart outside of your body all the time, walking around. With their very first cry, this most precious, vital part of ourselves -- our child -- is suddenly exposed to the world, to possible mishap or malice. And every parent knows there is nothing we will not do to shield our children from harm.

And yet, we also know that with that child’s very first step, and each step after that, they are separating from us; that we won’t -- that we can’t always be there for them. They’ll suffer sickness and setbacks and broken hearts and disappointments. And we learn that our most important job is to give them what they need to become self-reliant and capable and resilient, ready to face the world without fear.

And we know we can’t do this by ourselves. It comes as a shock at a certain point where you realize, no matter how much you love these kids, you can’t do it by yourself. That this job of keeping our children safe, and teaching them well, is something we can only do together, with the help of friends and neighbors, the help of a community, and the help of a nation. And in that way, we come to realize that we bear a responsibility for every child because we’re counting on everybody else to help look after ours; that we’re all parents; that they’re all our children.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/17/obama-parenting-speech-connecticut-shooting_n_2315319.html

No, it is not always going to be okay.

[graham4anything]

26. 100% agree.

this is one issue that should be on this very board, 100% agreed.

Yet the NRA people are here doing the NRA work here and it isn't.

It is time to start really considering the the NRA and its fans are making a coup'd'etat on America, and treating it as such with zero tolerance.
And those that hinder, in congress, by doing nothing, are alligning themselves with the NRA and its attempted coup'd'etat.

The shame thing is, Conn. won't be the last. Just the first of many til this whole gun culture stops completely.

(BTW,what amazes me is that some of those that speak the loudest about a couple of innocents dying from drones in the middle of a war, remain absolutely mute on the issue of guns by private citizens in America. I find that odd.)
Wouldn't one think they would be the biggest supporters of a gun by private citizen free streets out there?
What is one suppose to think about that? I am totally confused.(when in fact drones are saving the lives of many people from international terrorism.

Why is it we can try to stop international terrorism,and get it cut way down, but yet not terrorism on a daily basis in the form of a simple gun and a couple boxes of bullets?

Or is it that those that want to stop drones and don't want to stop guns, in effect are actively promoting the bad guys to just wantonly kill and be Zimmerman's all over the world?

I just don't know or understand.

[graywarrior]

20. My heart breaks for him

[sheshe2]

23. Hugs...

to you also, gray.

[blm]

24. (( ))

to all who have gone too soon

[sheshe2]

22. Several said this event was Haunting and it was.

I cried through his testimony, it was so very heartbreaking.

[sigmasix]

25. notice how the NRA advocates keep quiet

The NRA has been pushing the newton tragedy as an Obama-orchestrated hit-job on all those kids. The NRA-radicalized gun fetishists called this greiving father a coward and unAmerican. NRA members and directors seem to be more interested in encouraging presidential assasination attempts and protecting the gun rights of pedophiles, drunk drivers and paranoid racists than they are about the actual 2nd amendment.
Why do Teabaggers hate America?

[Frustratedlady]

27. Does anyone know anything about Heslin's wife?

Had she also died?

These parents/families will be haunted for eternity. Losing a child is never something you get past since they were in your care, depended on you and loved you without question.

How I wish we could all do something to help, but in all my years on earth, I've never seen a parent who is the same as they were before losing a child.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

28. I believe they are divorced.

They shared custody of Jesse.

[sufrommich]

30. That was incredibly painful to watch.

My heart just breaks for that Dad.

[Jennicut]

31. Many of the parents of the children that died in Newtown have been on our local news.

Living in CT, I have seen many of these parents speak before. It is still heartbreaking and will never stop being heartbreaking. The "Connecticut effect" will not go way, especially for those of us in CT. We have daily reminders here of what happened. Increased security at school and cops outside the schools for that first week after. Things will never be the same nor should they be. Something has to change.