NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch suggested Botham Jean might still be alive today if only he was “a law-abiding gun owner” and Philando Castile’s still-grieving mother, Valerie Castile, rightfully, went off.
“You know, this could have been very different if Botham Jean had been, say, he was a law-abiding gun owner and he saw somebody coming into his apartment,” Loesch said. “I mean, if I see somebody coming into my house, and I’m not expecting them, and they’re walking in like they own the place, I mean—I would, I would act to defend myself.
“And this could have gone very differently had he actually had a firearm on him,” she added.
“My son was a licensed gun owner and it didn’t help him. He’s dead because he gave that information to an officer,” Castile said in response to Loesch’s statement.
Castile called Loesch “reckless” and “one-sided” for using Jean’s tragic death to further the NRA’s agenda.
She also went on to say: “(Jean) was in his own home. Inside a nice building with security. He had a right to feel safe in his own home. He wasn’t expecting someone to come in uninvited. He shouldn’t have to always keep a gun on his hip. That’s asinine.”
“That officer was dead wrong. Just hold her accountable. Don’t try to spin the story. My son was a good guy, and (the NRA) tried to spin it. The truth is, he’s dead for being honest and telling the truth,” she said.
Philando Castile, a Minnesota public school employee who had a valid concealed carry permit, was murdered by a police officer during a routine traffic stop in Minnesota two years ago.
