The sheriff investigating a mass shooting at an Oregon community college that left at least nine people dead posted a video to Facebook in 2013 that raised questions about the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin posted a link to a YouTube video called “The Sandy Hook Shooting – Fully Exposed,” which summarized conspiracy theories surrounding the shooting and quickly racked up millions of views, about a month after the massacre took place. The post was deleted or made private sometime after 2:30 p.m. Friday.
“This makes me wonder who we can trust anymore…” Hanlin wrote. “Watch, listen, and keep an open mind.”
The video opens with text that reads: “In this video I will prove to you there has been a lot of deception surrounding the Sandy Hook shooting. This is a simple, logical video. No aliens, holigrams (sic), rituals or anything like that, just facts.” It then intersperses news clips from the time with text raising questions about the “official story” presented in the media, including whether there was more than one shooter and whether grieving parents were actually so-called “crisis actors.”
The viral video was quickly debunked in arenas as disparate as The Huffington Post and Glenn Beck’s website TheBlaze, however.
Two days after posting the debunked video, Hanlin sent a letter to Vice President Joe Biden in which he expressed his view that stricter gun control measures would do nothing to prevent future massacres.
“Gun control is NOT the answer to preventing heinous crimes like school shootings,” Hanlin wrote in the letter. “Any actions against, or in disregard for our U.S. Constitution and 2nd Amendment rights by the current administration would be irresponsible and an indisputable insult to the American people.”
He went on to suggest that he would not enforce executive actions or federal legislation regarding gun control.
“The United States Supreme Court has ruled that when a Sheriff chooses to enforce an unconstitutional directive, he is violating his Constitutional Oath,” Hanlin wrote in the letter to Biden. “I will NOT violate my Constitutional Oath. Therefore, the second purpose of this letter is to make notification that any federal regulation enacted by Congress or by executive order of the President offending the Constitutional rights of my citizens shall not be enforced by me or by my deputies, nor will I permit the enforcement of any unconstitutional regulations or orders by federal officers within the borders of Douglas County Oregon.”
The letter earned Hanlin praise from the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA), a fringe group somewhat similar to the Oath Keepers in that its members swear an oath to “uphold and defend” the Constitution.
View the post below:
Here are a few more choice posts from Hanlin’s Facebook page:
A few months after Sandy Hook, Hanlin shared an account of a Columbine shooting victim’s father’s testimony before Congress. The account he shared dated back to a 1999 email chain letter that was accurate in quoting the victim’s father but mischaracterized Congress’ reaction to his statement as negative, according to Snopes.
Hanlin expressed support for a “Biker Patriot Army” that planned to confront “1 million Muslims in Washington” on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
Many of Hanlin’s posts involved sharing memes supporting gun rights.
Allegra Kirkland contributed reporting. This post has been updated.
