Gun violence kills 33 Americans every day, and on Monday Miami leaders called on the president and members of Congress to take immediate steps to stop the violence and change gun laws.
“My son was killed for no reason. He was shot down in his car minding his own business," said Carol Gardner.
On April 3, Carol Gardner’s son, Herbert Gross III, was shot and killed by an AK-47. On Monday, she stood with Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado and community leaders to help put an end to gun violence.
“It’s very simple. We are calling us, the civic leaders, a chief of police throughout the nation and Congress to establish a requirement that every gun buyer should pass a criminal background check to get military style weapons and high capacity magazines off our streets and make gun trafficking a federal crime," Regalado said.
Rickia Isaac, 5, was killed by a stray bullet 15 years ago. Now, her uncle, the Rev. Jerome Starling, says gun violence has gone beyond the streets of Miami.
“Now we got widespread shootings. Twenty being shot at a time from Virginia Tech to Sandy Hook. Now legislation must roll out!” Starling said.
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In President Obama’s last news conference of his first term, he addressed gun control.
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“My starting point is not to worry about the politics my starting point is to focus on what makes sense, what works, what we should be doing to make sure that our children are safe and reducing the incidence of gun violence," Obama said.
But getting a bill through Congress will not be easy, even in the wake of the shooting spree at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut.
The NRA is already predicting efforts to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines will fail.
"The likelihood is that they are not going to be able to get an assault weapons ban through this Congress," said David Keene.
Gardner is hoping the time for action is now.
"I think after the children got killed in Connecticut, hopefully it will make a move because they was innocent and what happened to them it was awful and that breaks my heart," Gardner said.
Miami leaders will soon be airing a national TV ad featuring family members of victims of gun violence demanding for a plan of action from political leaders.
