Slain WDBJ Reporter's Father: I Won't Rest Until New Gun Laws Are Passed
[There was a video here]
Just over 24 hours after Alison Parker was shot to death on live television, her father Andy Parker spoke to CNN’s Chris Cuomo about his daughters life and death, and the need for increased gun control. “I’m not going to rest until I see something happen,” Parker said.
“We’re not talking about, you know, someone going to Syria and being in the cross hairs of ISIL,” he said. “We’re talking about two young people that were doing a benign story about a Marina opening and someone, a crazy person with a gun shoots them. And I know the NRA—I can hear it now. They’re going to say, ‘Oh gee, if they were carrying, this never would have happened.’”
Parker added, “I’m not saying let’s take away guns. I’m saying let’s make it harder for people with mental issues or people that, you know, like this guy that killed Alison and Adam. There’s got to be a mechanism that gets put in place for that. And I don’t think that’s unreasonable to do. How many Newtowns are we going to have? How many Sandy Hooks? How many Alisons is this going to happen to before we stop it?”
He went on.
“I’m challenging you the media, because again, this was one of your own, and I know how the business works. It’s a great story for a couple of days and then it goes to the back burner and nothing happens. But I can promise you and I can promise the American people I’m not going to rest until I see something get done here.”
Later in the interview, Cuomo asked Parker to describe his daughter and her legacy.
“She was kind, and she was sweet, and she touched everybody,” he said, visibly shaking and fighting off tears. “I’m standing here now. I got to see her in action and doing stories like this with the camera set up. She loved us and we loved her. I talked to her every single day. Every single day I talked to her. Right now she would be texting me right now saying, ‘Dad, what did you think of my story? What did you think of it?’ And I’m never going to hear that again. She was so loved by all. My heart is broken.
“I want to try and do something that will change that and make her life... to do something meaningful for her life so this doesn’t happen to someone else again.”
