Jan. 8th survivors continue fight for tighter gun control laws
Reporter: Justin Schecker
TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - Two days before a gunman shot and killed 26 innocent lives at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Conn., January 8th survivor Patricia Maisch spoke with 9 On Your Side about gun control and how mass shootings have become all too common.
“People tell me that would never happen in a million years, but the million years are really piling up quickly,” Maisch said last week after a gunman shot and killed two people at an Oregon mall.
Since their lives were spared almost two years ago, Maisch and other January 8th survivors have become activists trying to keep guns out of the wrong hands.
“No matter how often they are anymore they are always a shock,” Maisch said. “Each of them has the same unfortunate outcome – innocent people murdered by a gun.”
Congressman Rob Barber told 9 On Your Side when he returns to Washington D.C., he will speak out about providing better help for the mentally ill. He said he will also push his colleagues to get the weapons used in the Newtown shootings off the street.
“And the second thing we need to do is make sure the firepower he had available to him is not available,” Barber said. “Assault weapons, extended clips and large magazines literally allow scores of people to be wounded or killed in instances like this.”
Maisch told 9 On Your Side she’s hopeful politicians like Barber and President Obama will take meaningful action.
“It just doesn’t seem right that we can’t keep guns out of the hand of people who shouldn’t have them,” Maisch said.
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