Friday is Gun Violence Awareness Day, and in Chattanooga gun law reform advocates, faith leaders and victims of gun violence called on local leaders to do more to stop it.
"So many gun deaths are preventable,' Rabbi Craig Lewis of the Mizpah Congregation said. 'The US is the only country where there are more guns than people. If more guns made us safer we would absolutely be the safest country in the world, yet we are far from it. This year to date on June 2nd we have already experienced over 200 mass shootings. Other countries have enacted common sense gun reform and essentially ended mass shootings in their countries. It is clear that there is policy that does work and it's what we need in our home state of Tennessee."
Lewis says the group will continue to hold elected leaders accountable to enact policy that protects our communities.
Satedra Smith shared how she lost her grandfather to gun violence, is a survivor of a shooting herself, and lost her son at age 20 to gun violence. Yet she emphasized that deaths from gun violence are not lives 'lost' but lives 'taken.' She implored the people there, "Don't give up. Keep going. Keep calling and keep texting your leaders."
Watch the news conference below: