By Alison St. John
A group called “People for a Safe Community” held a community event Saturday to call for more stringent gun laws at the federal level.
Rick McCoy Jr., whose 18-year-old son was shot dead last year, spoke at the event.
“You can’t just sit at home and think, ‘Oh yeah, that happened to him and I feel sorry, but it would never happen to me.’ It’s happening to everyone, and you know if we as people do nothing about it, it will never be stopped,” McCoy said in an interview Friday. “It’s going to just get worse. No one organization can do it by itself, we’ve got to all pull together, that’s the only way it’s going to happen.”
Matt Maggio, one of the founders of the group, said without federal legislation, California’s stricter laws are ineffective.
“We’ve seen over and over again,” he said, “you can just go to a different state and buy as many guns as will fit in your car and bring them back to California.”
Other speakers at the meeting included San Diego Mayor Bob Filner and representatives from Senator Diane Fienstien’s and Congressman Scott Peter’s offices.
The meeting was held at the First Unitarian Church at 4190 Front Street in Hillcrest.