Five minutes for a bell to honor so many lives.
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Christine Leinonen, whose son was killed in the Pulse attack in Orlando, called for gun reform at the Democratic convention. “When I went into labor, the hospital put my gun in an off duty safe. But where was that common sense policy the day he died?”
Read her full remarks below.
“It takes about five minutes for a church bell to ring 49 times”, Christine Leinonen said. “I know this because last month, my son Christopher, his boyfriend Ron, and 47 others were murdered at a club in Orlando”. Christopher was my only child.
Through tears, Leinonen described her son, who was 32, as “better than flawless”.
Leinonen’s address, which moved many delegates in attendance to tears, was followed a short time later Wednesday by a speech from Erica Smegielski, the daughter of the principal at Sandy Hook Elementary School, who was killed when a gunman opened fire and killed 20 children and six adults.
All his life he brought people together.
She spoke about her son, noting that he won an award when he was younger for creating a Gay Straight Alliance in high school.
She also explained that her son’s grandparents had met at a Japanese internment camp. So it was in his DNA that love always trumps hate. That’s why she came to the convention: to speak on his behalf and advocate for Clinton and her support for gun control.
She recalled that when Christopher was born, she was a MI state trooper and the hospital put her gun away as she prepared to give birth. “The weapon that murdered my son fired 30 rounds in one minute”. One minute for a gun to fire so many shots.
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Leinonen also asked the audience a hard question: “Where was common sense gun reform the day my son died?”
