San Bernardino Victim's Family Heads to Congress to Raise Awareness About Gun Violence
Meet the Meins, the family of Damian Meins, who was one of the people killed in last year's San Bernardino shooting at the Inland Regional Center.
Damian, along with 13 other victims, were killed last Dec. 2 when a husband-wife tandem of Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik decided to crash the Christmas party for San Bernardino Country workers and shoot everyone in sight.
His widow, Trenna Meins, was invited by Democrat Rep. Mark Takano to be his guest during President Obama's State of the Union. However, the family decided that they felt they need to stay in DC for a week so they can meet with lawmakers and gun control advocacy groups, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Mrs. Meins said that although she and her family are not comfortable being in the limelight, they felt that they need to show lawmakers the "face of gun violence" so they may know that there are real people affected by the growing incidents of mass shootings.
President Obama, along with families such as the Meins, believed that this problem haunting the United States is due to the country's rather lax gun controls.
And over the course of Barack Obama's term as the president, he had made repeated attempts to reform these laws. Unfortunately, his proposals were also repeatedly shut down by Congress.
According to a related report by ABC 7, the tragedy led the Meins to have a better understanding of this growing problem. And although it's quite controversial, they think that it's really about the laws that the country implemented, adding to the loopholes that gun sellers continue to exploit.
The Meins said that although they fully know what the Second Amendment in the U.S. Constitution means, but they think it should not be put above all others.
Tina, one of the daughters of Trenna and Damian, said that his late father also had the right to be alive and "pursue happiness and that was taken from him." She reiterated that she believes that although everyone has rights, people still need to be respectful of others and find a common ground when necessary.
The family also clarified that they were deeply disappointed when they learned that Republican politicians have repeatedly blocked attempts to disallow people, who are on the FBI's terrorist watch-list, from legally owning firearms.
In addition, there's about 6,400 American citizens and permanent residents were on the no-fly list according to Reuters, which proponents of gun control reform thinks should also be barred from buying a gun.
However, as Obama's term already on its last leg, reforms still have yet to take place.
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