Take Two translates the day’s headlines for Southern California, making sense of the news and cultural events that affect our lives. Produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from October 2012 – June 2021. Hosted by A Martinez.
Yesterday, Richard Martinez, the father of slain student Christopher Michaels-Martinez, spoke to a packed stadium at UC Santa Barbara following last Friday's killing spree by Elliot Rodger.
Martinez asked the crowd to call on their elected officials for stricter gun control:
"I got a phone call from a congressperson to express their condolences," he said during a memorial service, "and I told this person I wasn't interested in a phone call from them to express their condolences and sadness about what happened to Chris. That was unacceptable, until that person went back to Congress and actually did something. They had done nothing, and that's why Chris died."
But will this plea make any difference?
Laura Cutiletta, senior staff attorney at the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, joins Take Two to explain how gun control advocates hope to shift the debate after many years of inaction by Congress.