This OTYCD entry originally posted in December 2017.
Support the HONR Network, an organization started by the father of a Sandy Hook student, which protects and defends the families of victims of headline-making gun violence and terrorism.
Leonard Pozner got the worst news of his life on December 14, 2012–his son, Noah, was among the children killed at Sandy Hook. In a merciful world, that would have been the end of the horror he faced, but it was only the beginning. Immediately after the tragedy, he received harassing messages from self-appointed “truthers”–people convinced that the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax.
He was told that his little boy was a paid actor, recruited to deceive the public. That he didn’t die. That he never existed. Offering proof, such as releasing Noah’s death certificate, only made them double down on their conspiratorial thinking, and made them more determined to spread the “truth” as they understand it. And they have powerful advocates in the form of people such as radio host Alex Jones.
Fed up, Pozner started the HONR Network to fight back against determined harassers–people who stalk the survivors of headline-making acts of gun violence and terrorism and inflict more pain on them. It recently achieved a real punishment for Lucy Richards, a 57-year-old Sandy Hook truther who sent multiple threatening messages to Pozner. She pled guilty to sending threats through interstate communications and will serve five months in prison followed by five months of house arrest.
To be utterly clear on this–reading about the beliefs of Sandy Hook conspiracy theorists and their compatriots is not a crime. Interacting with them online is not a crime. Holding such beliefs is not, in and of itself, a crime. But if you hunt down the contact information of the family members of the victims and deliberately push your conspiracy theories in their faces over and over and over again, you’ve crossed a line, and consequences could follow.
See the HONR Network’s website:
Donate to the HONR Network GoFundMe:
https://www.gofundme.com/honrlegalfund?utm_medium=wdgt
Follow the HONR Network on Twitter:
@honrnetwork
Like it on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/honrnetwork
Read about what Pozner and his HONR Network friends are up against (this Cracked story inspired this OTYCD post):
Read about the sentence levied against Lucy Richards:
http://time.com/4810828/sandy-hook-shooting-lucy-richards-threats/
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