Congressman calls for end to gun violence at DNC panel
PHILADELPHIA >> U.S. Congressman John Lewis, D-Georgia, said he was tired and sick of attending funerals for victims of gun violence and the nation had a “moral obligation” to address the crisis during a panel discussion “Disarm Hate: The Role of Guns in Hate Crimes” hosted by the Brady Campaign inside the Pennsylvania Convention Center Thursday.
“When you feel something, you have to do something,” he said. “You have to find a way to get in the way.”
The panel moderated by Brady Campaign President Dan Gross featured such guest speakers as Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, Congressman James Clyburn, D- South Carolina; Shafiq R. Fulcher Abdussabur, New Haven, Conn. police officer, former president National Association of Black Law Enforcement Officers; Zeke Stokes, vice president of programs, GLAAD; and the Rev. Dr. Betty Deas Clark, former pastor, Mother Emmanuel AME Church, Charleston, S.C.
Lewis, the famed civil rights leader, who led a sit in inside the House Chamber in Washington last month after the deadly shootings inside an Orlando,Fla. nightclub, said his friend the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., along with President John F. Kennedy and his brother Senator Robert Kennedy, were all victims of gun violence.
“Too many people … have become a victim of gun violence,” he said. “I’m tired and sick of going to funerals because someone has been murdered by guns.”
On the concept of sit ins, Lewis said “you’re sitting down to stand up for something.” Lewis called on Democrats to stand up to leaders in Washington to agree to stricter gun regulations, adding that “95 percent” of Americans support stricter gun control laws.
“Never ever give up or give in,” he said. “We can land this victory. Now is the time for action. We can win in!”
Garcetti followed Lewis by saying gun violence was rooted in hate and that the seeds of hate someone feels for another person are usually sewed a long ago. That’s why in his administration has focused on reducing domestic and teen gang violence, worked to change.people’s attitudes against groups of those different from them and provided job opportunities as a means of reducing gun violence in his city.
Malloy, who served during the deadly shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., said “gun violence is coming to your neighborhood” until universal background checks are employed.
“Guns sold in your your state will end up killing someone in my state,” he said until universal checks are federal law.