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VIDEO: Newtown Parent, Gun Owners Disagree On Weapons Ban

Some websites are saying that Neil Heslin was "heckled by pro-gun activists" Monday during a public hearing in Hartford, Conn., when he made the case that assault-style weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines need to be banned.

And because Heslin is the father of a 6-year-old who was killed in the Dec. 14 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Conn., the word "heckled" is getting much attention.

Watch this report from New England Cable News and decide for yourself about what happened. The setting was a meeting of the state task force that is studying the Sandy Hook shootings and the state's laws. Gun owners were among those in the audience. NECN reports that Heslin "asked the assembled gun owners why such weapons should not be banned."

You can see and hear Heslin say that "not one person can answer that question" and then turn toward those behind him. Some in the audience respond with comments about the Second Amendment and its line that "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.