Posted: Nov 14, 2011 1:27 PM
Updated: Nov 14, 2011 1:37 PM
TUCSON - One gun in the wrong hands, six innocent lives lost. That's what a doctor said referring to the January 8th shooting, which is why a group of people from Tucson are joining "Mayors Against Illegal Guns," to speak in Washington Tuesday.
"It just brings to light the devastation that one bullet can cause," said Nancy Bowman. Bowman was in the grocery store when the bullets started to fly. As a registered nurse, and her husband a doctor, the two ran out and began to help the wounded on that tragic day.
"You can sit in your house and say I have every right to have my gun and every American should have a gun until it hits you. Until you're standing there with 19 people that have been gunned down," said Bowman.
In 15 seconds, thge gunman fired 32 bullets, killing 6, injuring 13.
On Tuesday the group "Mayors Against Illegal Guns" and survivors of recent mass shootings will urge Congress to strengthen and tighten background gun checks, and that includes extending background checks to private sales at gun shows.
Earlier this year, News 4 Tucson's Brandon Gunnoe entered a gun show in Tucson with a hidden camera. Here's what he was told when I tried to buy a gun from a private seller hinting that I may not be able to pass a background check:
"Is that all you need you don't have to pass a background check or anything?" Gunnoe asked.
Gun seller: "Just like I said, ID, got to be in Arizona for at least 90 days, and all that."
Pat Maisch wrestled away a fresh magazine of bullets as Loughner tried to reload. She will speak to the Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism on Tuesday. "We think that every gun sale should have a background check," said Maisch.
There are those that oppose stricter gun laws period, and would argue that tougher legislation won't stop tragedies like the one on January 8th.
"If you think about how the women's movement got started, how the civil rights movement got started, if you don't start and you don't try you definitely won't get anywhere," said Maisch.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino are proposing the Fix Gun Checks Act. If passed, the law would require a major improvement to the national do-not-sell database.
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