Marin Mom Testifies at State Senate Hearing on Gun Control Laws

Marin resident Cynthia Pillsbury has done plenty of public speaking in her career.

But little could prepare her for stepping into the glare of a California State Senate hearing this week on proposed stricter gun control laws, an issue that has captivated the attention of Pillsbury and people on both sides of the debate throughout the country .

Representing the local chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, Pillsbury, a resident of Larkspur, testified in Sacramento as the Senate Committee on Public Safety discussed a package of new laws that could place new restrictions on the types of guns and ammunition that Californians are allowed to own.

“It was definitely intimidating getting up in a room full of people, many of whom are there to say their stance against the bills,” Pillsbury said. “I’m not a political person but this is something I’ve always had a stance on. In my mind these are common sense solutions.”

“We don’t need to have semi-automatic weapons and detachable magazines – guns that are designed for military use and designed to cause mass casualities,” she continued. “We need to get those guns off the streets and out of the hands of everyone. That will lower the chance of these horrible tragedies happening.”

Pillsbury said she didn’t know anyone directly affected by the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings but has since met some of the parents impacted.

“It’s given me more resolve than ever – there’s nothing more important than raising kids in a safe society,” she said.

Voices on both sides of the gun control debate were heard this week in Sacramento. The eight bills that make up the LIFE Act aim to tighten state gun laws through various approaches, including prohibiting the future sale and manufacture of semi-automatic rifles with detachable magazines, banning the possession of ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 bullets, and updating the definition of an illegal assault weapon to include more types of
guns.

Dozens of invited speakers and members of the public waited for hours to address to the seven-member committee, offering testimony that was at times heated and emotional, both in support of the LIFE Act and against it.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who spoke in support of the bills, said that during his tenure as mayor, gang homicides have dropped 66 percent through a multi-pronged attack on gun violence that included gang intervention, community policing and stronger gun laws.

"Make our laws stronger," Villaraigosa said. "We owe this to those who have been shot, those who have been killed, parents who have lost their children, and children who have lost their parents."

San Francisco resident Mattie Scott, whose son died in a shooting six years ago, said she was tired of young men in her community being killed.

"Please bring healing for our families and our nation," Scott said. "I'm tired of going to funerals. I want to go to graduations."

Pillsbury wept as she recalled watching news coverage of the shooting in Newtown.

"Their parents' hearts broke in a thousand pieces," she said. "They will never recover."

Dozens of pro-gun advocates acknowledged the horror of recent events and mass shootings, but argued that every American has the right to own assault weapons and high-capacity magazines to protect themselves at home, a right that is guarded by the second amendment of the U.S.
Constitution.

Jim Ricketts, a member of the Placer Tea Party, said that if criminals on the street carried assault weapons, he should have the right to own them too.

"I have the right to be on an even playing field as the criminals are," he said.

Del Norte County Sheriff Dean Wilson argued that the proposed laws would be ineffective at stopping mass shootings like the one in Newtown, Conn., and added that banning more types of assault weapons would criminalize people who own those guns legally under current law.

"Nothing that is recommended here could have prevented these tragedies from happening," Wilson said. "You are making criminals out of decent people, hard-working citizens that don't deserve it."

"I will not enforce these laws," he said. If the bills are passed by the Committee on Public Safety, they will then be heard by the Appropriations Committee before moving to a full debate by the state senate.

–Bay City News Service contributed to this report. Copyright © 2013 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.