The father of a tv reporter who was shot to death continues his fight to strengthen gun laws.
He tells News13’s Washington Correspondent Brie Jackson that gun laws haven’t changed much since the 2015 tragedy.
Reporter Alison Parker was in the middle of a live television news report when she and her photographer were shot to death by a former coworker.
Since then, her father has been on a mission to prevent gun violence.
“To stop this scourge that’s happening in our country, and I became an advocate for sensible gun legislation,” said Andy Parker, Allison’s father.
Andy Parker has written a book called “For Alison.” In it, he pleads with federal lawmakers to ban high-powered weapons and strengthen gun buyers’ background checks.
Parker said the resistance to changing American gun laws is strong, and he says, vicious.
Parker also said he’s been threatened online by people who say his daughter’s murder was fake and other high-profile shootings are hoaxes.
“They’ve done it to the Parkland kids, the Sandy Hook parents,” Parker said.
The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives has responded to Parker and other victim advocates by passing legislation that would close loopholes in the background check system. It’s the first major gun control bill in 20 years.
It’s now up to the Senate, where Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown supports the bill.
“I’m hoping that members of the Senate can break their addiction to gun lobby money and support and do the right thing,” said Senator Sherrod Brown (D- Ohio).
Republican senators oppose the bill, which they say is unfair to legal gun owners. They prefer other, less restrictive, measures. But, it’s unclear whether senators will vote on any gun laws any time soon.