We spoke with former WPB Mayor Frankel before the SOU, about gun control.
Former West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel was not alone Tuesday night. She invited Lynn McDonnell to the State of the Union Address. Lynn's 7 year old daughter Grace was one of the young victims at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
"We've both been working with a group called "Mayors Against Illegal Guns." It's a group that I became involved in when i was mayor of West Palm Beach and they have been working with gun violence victims all over the country and they matched us up."
As to why the Democratic Congresswoman brought Lynn along: "I think it's important that my colleagues look into the eyes of these family members of folks who were tragically killed and say to them, 'yes we can do something to prevent future families from having the unimaginable pain that these folks are going through.'"
Grace, Lynn and her husband Chris, who was also at the SOU as a guest of a California Congressman, were referenced by President Obama during his speech. One of Grace's paintings is hanging in the president's private study at the White House.
Frankel wants change now and she believes it's all about common sense. "The majority of Americans, including NRA members, support the common sense proposal to require criminal background checks for anyone who wants to buy a gun. The majority of Americans support proposals to ban sell of assault weapons and high capacity magazines which allow deranged people to kill innocents in a matter of seconds."
We mentioned to her the fact that Adam Lanza did not use guns that he purchased legally, but rather stole his mother's cache of weapons. She says, "I think every American says 'why in the world did his mother have assault weapons? Why did his mother have these high capacity magazines? Why should anyone be able to get their hands on those kinds of weapons?'"
U.S. Representative Frankel insists nobody is trying to take away anybody's right to bear arms.
