The story circulating claiming the Oath Keepers are providing security for Planned Parenthood is completely FALSE.

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The Oath Keepers have been made target of an online satirical website. The Conservative Frontline has run a false story about Oath Keepers providing security for Planned Parenthood. It has been run alongside other “humorous” articles such as, “Ku Klux Klan Endorses Ben Carson for President” and “Cosby Accusers May Face Felony Charges for Ingesting Quaaludes.” While this website may not state outright that it is a satirical site with no basis in reality, it takes just a little common sense to realize the articles are completely fabricated, and poorly so. What’s worse is, those responsible for this lackluster publication, in addition having a poor sense of humor, have no issue capitalizing on tragedy and the death of our fellow Americans to the extent that even Snopes has called out Conservative Frontline previously.

I found this callous attempt at humor particularly sickening once I began to think how the true victims of this horrific event, the surviving family members, will have an empty chair at their holiday meals as a constant reminder of their painfully fresh wound.

This CNN story goes over the lives and families of some of the heroes who died saving others during the active shooter incident in Colorado this week.

They include; Iraq War veteran Ke’Arre Stewart had just learned he was having a third child when in Colorado Springs, Colorado, his sister says.

She’s since learned from police and the coroner that her brother, a 29-year-old father of two, fell back on his military training and was able to save lives before Dear (the shooter) allegedly took his.

“I see that he was able to tell everybody to get down … so he was able to save a lot of lives and stop other people from possibly losing their lives,” she said. “I know him. I know that’s what he would have naturally done. And after hearing everything, I’m very proud of my brother. He’s an honorable man.”

Stewart has two daughters, 5 and 11, his sister said. They are living in Texas, where Stewart grew up before joining the Army. He was stationed at Fort Carson, just outside Colorado Springs, in 2013 and was discharged from the Army last year, CNN affiliate KKTV reported.

His daughters meant the world to him, said Amburh Butler, a longtime friend who started a gofundme page to raise money for them after the shooting.

Once, she said, Stewart quit a job because his boss wouldn’t give him time off to attend his daughter’s ballet recital.

“I thought that was amazing. A lot of people wouldn’t do that. … That’s probably the best story I can share about him, how he was as a father,” Butler told CNN’s “AC360.”

Stewart wasn’t the only hero in the deadly attacks that left nine people wounded. It was no surprise to anyone who knew him that Officer Garrett Swasey met his end trying to help people. The 44-year-old University of Colorado-Colorado Springs officer rushed to the scene, roughly 10 miles away, to aid his fellow officers who were under fire.

“There was no way any of us could have kept him here,” campus Police Chief Brian McPike said at a Saturday vigil for Swasey. “He was always willing to go. … He had an enthusiasm that was hard to quell.”

That enthusiasm extended to his civilian life. He derived great joy from family and church, where he played guitar and served as an elder, his wife of 17 years said in a statement.

“We will cherish his memory, especially those times he spent tossing the football to his son and snuggling with his daughter on the couch,” Rachel Swasey’s statement said.

Family also meant the world to Jennifer Markovsky. The third victim in Friday’s attack was a Waianae, Hawaii, native who moved to Colorado Springs when the military stationed her husband there, sister-in-law Julia Miller told The Gazette.

Markovsky, 35, enjoyed taking her children, 6 and 10, on hikes and enjoyed baking and arts and crafts, Miller told the paper.

“She lived for her kids,” Miller said.

Please note the previous article originally posted on cnn.com

It is the tragic loss of these people that author, Shane Paulson, decided to attempt to twist into some sort of despicable joke. These were real people, with real families, who died only 4 short days ago. One of the most honorable operations I have been privileged to be a part of was protecting the families of the victims of the Umpqua Community College shootings. This experience showed me, first hand, just a fraction of the damage an active shooter event can have on its surviving community. This is not a subject matter that should be used as fodder for a joke. Yes, the Oath Keepers, have offered protection to different community members across the country, and sometimes to people I may not agree with 100% politically. But, we have always, in my opinion, tried to take the high road and do the honorable thing.

I also find it disconcerting that time and time again people fall prey to the utterly false information that the main stream media and powers that be continue to spew. I have said it before, and I will say it again, if you have any question about the authenticity of a story about the Oath Keepers, please check with our national website www.OathKeepers.org, our official Facebook page, or even our official email newsletter. You can even feel free to email me directly. We will be happy to dispel any misinformation you may have come across. A good rule of thumb is, if it does not fit into our bylaws, or sound like something our national organization might do, then it probably is not true.

It is never an honorable thing to make light of an act like this. Unfortunately, we have already seen another active shooter situation arise so soon, this time in San Bernardino, CA. These situations happen across our nation at an astounding rate followed by the immediate politicization of these tragedies to force a political agenda to not only destroy our second amendment rights, but also to demonize groups that are gaining traction, such as the Oath Keepers. The numbers speak for themselves. We as citizens are much safer protecting ourselves with the right to legally carry the means to defend ourselves. In last years report by the FBI on active shooter incidents, “60.0% of the incidents ended before police arrived.” This means that it is, more often than not, going to lay in the hands of citizen heroes who are willing to step up and fight to survive and protect their fellow Americans.

We will be launching a new initiative shortly that will be working on training our own citizen heroes to better take on the waves of terrorists and active shooters that seem to be already assaulting us at full speed.

Jason Van Tatenhove

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