During an emotional testimony Wednesday at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on guns, the father of a boy slain in the Newtown, Conn. massacre said he is still waiting for an answer on why assault weapons are legal under current law.
Neil Heslin posed the question at an earlier hearing on the shooting, held in January in Hartford, Conn. That hearing made headlines when pro-gun activists shouted “the Second Amendment” after Heslin asked why any civilian needs an assault weapon.
“I asked a question month ago: What purpose those serve in civilians’ hands or on the street?” Heslin said at Wednesday’s Senate hearing, holding a photo of himself and his son. “I haven’t received an answer yet, but they did blurt ‘the Second Amendment.’ It wasn’t about the Second Amendment. I defend the Second Amendment. And I want to see that upheld and regulated. And it hasn’t been.”
Heslin spoke at length about his son, Jesse Lewis, and the last morning they spent together, sobbing as he recalled that day in mid December.
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(Photo credit: AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
