Courtesy of the Examiner:
"I'm here today as a father of a woman who was shot dead by her husband, here in New Hampshire,” Cantin began. “I'm here as a survivor who was injured in the same shooting, so I am a victim as well.
"The person who did this was not a criminal,” he said. The remark was a reference to a standard rhetorical strategy used by the National Rifle Association, claiming that the focus of gun control should be in keeping firearms out of the hands of criminals.
“I'm here as a proud veteran of the military who was trained in the responsible use of firearms. I'm here as a voter who supported Senator Kelly Ayotte and wants to see her [bring about common sense solutions to the problem]”.
(Understanding all of Cantin’s words was complicated by the din caused by the guns rights activists, who did not relent in their verbal harassment.)
"I'm here as an advocate for the victims of domestic abuse and improved mental health services.
“It takes more than one program to control [ violence]. Everybody needs to work together and nobody is here to take rights away,” he told the gun owners, who began shouting the word “Freedom” over and over.
“I was deeply disappointed when Senator Ayotte voted against federal legislation strengthening gun laws requiring background checks and making trafficking a federal crime," Cantin said.
"We know that almost 90% of NH voter -- 90% of NH voters -- many of them gun owners, supported including all guns sales in background checks."
As Cantin began to discuss the issue of domestic violence, he was interrupted by Daniel Musso, a 52-year old gun rights activist. Musso sported a T-shirt proclaiming HOMELAND SECURITY illustrated with pictures of famous Native American warriors like Sitting Bull holding rifles. Musso continued to interrupt him as he spoke.
"We know that when there is a gun in the home of a domestic abuser, a woman is 500 times more likely to be killed,” he said when he finally was able to continue after addressing Musso. Musso continued to harass him as he went on with his speech.
“We know that in the states where background checks are required for all gun purchases there is a 38% decrease in the rates of homicides from domestic violence.
“That is why I stood with other fathers who lost their children in the Newtown shootings who asked Senator Ayotte to change her vote. This is why I delivered petitions to her office signed by hundreds of New Hampshire voters to support stronger laws ....”
As Cantin began to discussing his deep dismay with Kelly Ayotte, the rowdy gun owners shifted their sloganeering to shouts of “Ayotte! Ayotte!” as they tried to drown out Cantin. Musso also began to say “Ayotte” as he stood at the dais with Cantin.
“And it is why just an hour ago,” Cantin said, “I delivered a list of over 6,000 [victims of gun violence] to Senator Ayotte's office in Manchester. The names I delivered were the names of people like my daughter Melissa.”
I had read about this exchange last week, but did not fully understand how aggressively Mr. Contin was harassed and to what limits they went to intimidate him u7ntil I happened across this video today.
That is a despicable display of antipathy toward this man who is simply trying to do right by his daughter.
According to the YouTube site the thug, a Daniel Musso, was arrested later for assault and resisting arrest.
Good on Mr. Contin for continuing on with his speech.
Update: Here is the arrest of Daniel Musso. He is a big guy and he was not easy to take down.
He shouldn't have poked his finger at that officer though.
A couple days after this Daniel Musso's house was destroyed in a fire. Karma?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.unionleader.com/article/20130622/NEWS07/130629694
Cowardly piece of shit, harasses and intimidates and then tries to use his 'heart condition,' to get out of going to jail.
DeleteHe should refer to both his son's in Afghanistan as having 'warrior bodies,' and being war vet's, that should get him a dozen appearances on Fox News as a ril American patriot.
Good grief, one guy talks about his mechanic (Musso) as a gentle man who gently put his hands (LOL) on a Nazi Thug's shoulder. SMH.
DeleteHis neighbors must be thrilled. Who would want such an ignorant bully living in their neighborhood?
Delete
DeleteIt's only Karma, but something tells me he'll find a conspiracy in there somewhere.
This site has the incident from a different camera. During the struggle to arrest Musso, an officer drops his keys, and a local gun shop owner drop kicks them into the crowd.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.concordmonitor.com/home/7101427-95/gun-store-owner-apologizes-for-conduct-at-tuesday-gun-rally
This kind of mob stomped on the head of a 98 pound woman at a Rand Paul rally, and see nothing wrong with it. As long as they are 'defending their freedom,' violence against their 'opposition,' is guaranteed by their Biblically-driven-Palin-Bachmann-version of the constitution.
DeleteWhat a piece of shit, juvenile, boorish behavior, at least didn't have a 2nd Amendment remedy. Hope he loses business, but as we learned over the years, Palin-like thuggishness sells. Nice work if you can get it.
DeleteThe gun shop owner claims that he didn't know whose keys they were. The video clearly shows that they fell out of an officer's pocket right in front of the man and he kicks them seconds later. There is no one else in the vicinity except several officers and Musso on the ground.
DeleteHe knew EXACTLY who those keys belonged to. The only reason he apologized is because he gets a lot of business from the police department. Correction: he USED to get a lot of business from the police department. I suspect they will find their weapons elsewhere from now on.
To NRA holes, second amendment rights are more important than first amendment rights. Obvious Fascist thugs!
ReplyDeleteWho needs free speech? If you have a gun, you can simply kill those who don't agree with you.
ReplyDeleteI do not undersand this whole pro-gun mentality. It is almost as if they don't care that women and kids are dying every single day, not at the hand of 'criminals' or 'bad guys,' but at the hand of other children, or an angry spouse. Soemtimes, it's even a man who gets killed. Wanting background checks is not taking away their killing toys. Wanting background checks is supporting life. Freedom, they yell? What about my freedom to be safe in my own neighborhood? I saw a young man loaded down with bags yesterday out by my mall, and I breifly thought about offering him a ride in the heat. Then I thought, "no, he might have a gun," and I drove on. THIS is what the GOP and NRA are turning us into: suspicious, scared citizens who think if we just have an assault rifle, we'll be free and safe. Sadly, no, we'll be scared and dead. If they truly believed what they chant, they would be respectful of other viewpoints...these people are already scared...of others, of government, of women...America is in free fall.
ReplyDeleteThey DON'T care. When their toddlers shoot each other dead it's God's will. When the children of liberals are massacred they don't care at all, not a jot, they just clutch their guns even tighter.
DeleteEven so, I can't make myself care about a teabagger who help elect a teabagger troublemaker to the US Senate but now finds her inconvenient and is abused by other teabaggers for it.
But Musso is the patriot here! He's defending his GOD given 2nd Amendment rights (blessed by Jesus) by abusing his 1st Amendment rights also too there. Bless his heart, he's a rill American captain of the unregulated masses and whatnot.
ReplyDeleteMy heart goes out to victims of gun violence who do their dogged best to stand up to the immensely, lopsidedly powerful and dangerous gun lobby who enjoy mouth-breather evangelists carrying their water for all of 'em, any of 'em put in front of us over the years.
How sick do you have to be to interrupt and harass a man talking about the murder of his daughter and his own injuries in the same incident?
ReplyDeleteMusso is clearly a thug who enjoys his ability to intimidate and frighten other people and has no respect for the rights of others. To use the words "propaganda shit" to describe a reference to his dead daughter is simply despicable.
I know John Cantin very well. He went through hell when his daughter was murdered.
ReplyDeleteMost people of NH are ashamed of Kelley Ayotte. She is NH's version of Palin, stupid and arrogant. She has no record as Senator, and she was a lousy DA before that. She aided and abetted the criminal actions of Financial Resources Mortgage company and claimed no knowledge of her actions.
She needs to be voted OUT. Scum.
Great post. And what I love liberals is that we use and encourage the VOTE, and do jot threaten people with being killed.
DeleteUnlike the Bristol Palin nonsense, which I did not read, just as I read very few of your Sarah Palin posts, this was well worth the post. I am a gun owner, but these are the very people one would hope background checks would prevent from owning guns. They are a danger to society.
ReplyDeleteThese people are being so disrespectful to a man who just wants to read his talking points at a public rally.
ReplyDeleteI'd expect nothing less from the Teaparty gun fanatics who would deny someone their 1st amendment rights, while threatening them with their words and behavior.
For the record, I do own firearms, mostly because I'm in such a remote location, and only have them as a deterrent.
I hold a NH concealed carry permit issued by my local police chief, but I wish it had been harder to get one.
I only had to fill out a form, submit to a criminal background check, and I didn't even have to show ID to get one. No training, no proof of competency, and not even a photograph was required!
I support full background checks for all gun sales, private or public, and I believe that mandatory training should be required to own any firearms.
These gun fanatics like nothing better than to create confrontation and controversy, as it gives them justification for their religion based 2nd amendment fantasies.
What's totally missing in what's left of civil discourse is civility. Years ago, people used to let both sides speak while the crowd listened, then all hell broke loose. Now one person tries to speak civilly, the crowd screams, the bullies bully, and no one gets their point across.
ReplyDeleteI felt disgusted when this man tried to speak and the asshat disrupted him, but I'm glad he kept his composure and finished his speech.
Isn't you tube a wonderful thing? The gunshop owner clearly kicked the keys that fell out of the officer's pocket, yet in his "apology" he states that he didn't know who they belonged to, but kicked them because he'd never experienced this type of incident before.
OF COURSE he respects the police, they're one of his biggest customers.