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SEARCHGilberton (Pa.) Police Chief Mark Kessler has received numerous death threats, as well as support, for posting several profanity-laced videos supporting gun rights.
Screenshot via WNEP.
Gilberton (Pa.) Police Chief Mark Kessler has received numerous death threats, as well as support, for posting several profanity-laced videos supporting gun rights.
In an interview with WNEP , Chief Kessler said he has been barraged with phone calls and emails since posting the YouTube videos earlier this month. Kessler appeared on camera with his attorney for a nearly 30-minute interview with the news outlet that initially broadcast the story about his videos.
"I have concerns about the massive amounts of death threats received against myself, my family, other employees in the borough," Kessler said. "When I receive phone calls from people telling me to kill myself, that they're going to kill my children, that I better sleep with a gun at night, that if they see me they're going to kill me, that their gun is bigger than mine, that they know how to use it better, that they're going to decapitate me, I have some concerns. That's why I can't leave my home without being armed."
For now, Kessler remains in his job as police chief for the small-town agency. Mayor Marylou Hannon has said she supports the chief's free-speech rights. The borough council has yet to weigh in on whether he will face discipline for blasting gun-control supporters and firing several fully automatic weapons.
Wearing a black Mossad t-shirt and red Under Armour baseball cap, Kessler told WNEP he posted the videos to call attention to his strong support for First Amendment and Second Amendment rights he says are being eroded by the federal government. Kessler said the death threats have come from all over the country.
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