A Pueblo County commission candidate whose comments about the Newtown shootings drew gasps and now death threats says his remarks were misunderstood.

Republican Tom Ready said Saturday the article on his Facebook page saying the shootings were a “hoax” intended to drum up support for tougher gun controls was written by someone else. He said he simply “pushed a button” and linked that article to his page to encourage discussion.

Ready said he tried — but didn’t do a good job — during the debate to make a point that the country doesn’t know everything about the school shooting, just as it doesn’t know everything about the Kennedy assassination.

“We haven’t got all the questions answered,” he said, adding he was surprised by the outcry. “Where’s freedom of speech? I didn’t know we were a communist community.”

Ready also said he’s sorry he hurt those impacted by the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., where 20 children and six adults were killed by a gunman in 2012, shocking the nation and revamping the national debate over gun control and ownership.

“People who know me know that I’ve never even talked about this,” Ready told The Denver Post on Saturday, adding he has grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Ready last week debated Democrat Sal Pace, the commissioner he is trying to unseat on Nov. 4. The debate was covered by The Pueblo Chieftain.

“Sal and I had gotten together ahead of time with the moderator, and we promised not to go negative. Sal raised taxes on the citizens of my community and when I brought issues up, he said, ‘Ah, now you’ve gone negative,’ and asked about Newtown,” Ready recalled. “How is asking about his record negative?

“I’m not a ‘truther,’ whatever that is.”

He has been called a “truther” — someone who rejects the overwhelmingly accepted explanation of a certain event — in articles that have gone viral. Ready said he has since gotten death threats.

“There is still question about whether it really happened, Sal,” said Ready, when questioned about the Newtown post.

“If you recall, there was a picture of a man walking in whose daughter died. He was smiling and joking. When he walked into the room, he turned and all of a sudden he had tears in his eyes. Why? I question that.”

Lynn Bartels: 303-954-5327, lbartels@denverpost.com or twitter.com/lynn_bartels

*Editor’s note: The article has been edited to correct the statement “There is still question about whether it really happened, Sal.” The previous edit stated ‘no question.’ Lynn Bartels will follow up with a print correction in a future edition.