Biden’s Sandy Hook Claim Called ‘A Lie’ by Brother of Shooting Victim

Vice President Joe Biden speaks during a meeting with video game industry executives in Washington on Jan. 11, 2013. Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images

Former Vice President Joe Biden’s claim about meeting with all the families affected by the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School was challenged by the brother of one of the victims.

The shooting took place on Dec. 14, 2012. A 20-year-old man gunned down 26 people, including six adults, at the school.

Biden’s campaign recently released a new video with the Democratic presidential contender saying: "The issue of gun violence has been a concern of mine for a long, long time. What really got to me though, really firsthand, was what happened up at Sandy Hook.

“I think I met with every one of the parents,” he added, “and ... the families of those who were lost.”

But JT Lewis, 19, whose 6-year-old brother Jesse was one of the students killed in the attack, said a Biden didn’t meet with the families of the victims. President Barack Obama did, Lewis said.

“This is a lie,” Lewis wrote on Twitter, challenging Biden’s claim. “Obama came to Sandy Hook and met with every family. Joe Biden DID NOT.”

“In fact, my family was not allowed on Air Force One because we refused to support Obama/Biden gun control efforts,” Lewis added.

Lewis noted that earlier this year, Biden said he was vice president when a mass shooting took place in Parkland, Florida last year. Biden left office in early 2017.

An official with Biden’s campaign previously told Bloomberg that the former vice president made a mistake and was thinking about the mass shooting at Sandy Hook.

Lewis added on Oct. 24: “Joe Biden says that he experienced Sandy Hook firsthand with parents of victims and first responders. I clarified that Obama was here days after the shooting doing just that and Biden was not. In the years following the shooting he has hosted events for some in those groups.”

Biden, 76, one of the oldest candidates in the race, has suffered a number of memory lapses during the campaign, including getting names mixed up and dates wrong, leading to attacks from rival contenders.

Biden has defended himself, telling a crowd in August: “I’m not going nuts.”

In early September, he said of his memory lapses: “That has nothing to do with judgment of whether or not you send troops to war, the judgment of whether you bring someone home, the judgment of whether you decide on a healthcare policy. The details are irrelevant in terms of decision-making.”