Duluth, MN (Northland's NewsCenter) - At 4 PM on Sunday—on the southeast corner of Lake Avenue and Superior Street—dozens of community members met in solidarity for 32 minutes. Among them, 32 LED candles were glowing for the 32 gun homicide victims per day in America.
When asked what brought her here today, Joan Peterson responded, "Too many victims; we have 32 people a day who are murdered by guns, and we believe that's too many."
Peterson—board member of the organization "Protect Minnesota"—said she hoped the vigil would call attention to current Minnesota gun regulations.
"The majority of people actually are in favor of sensible gun legislation," said Peterson, who said she has spoken with dozens of hunters and gun owners.
While Minnesota does require a 5–day waiting period for parties interested in purchasing handguns, according to Peterson, no background check is required for someone interested in buying a gun from a private seller.
"It could be a criminal, it could be someone who's adjudicated mentally ill, it could be a domestic abuser," said Peterson
According to Linda Riddle, Executive Director of Duluth's Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs, 32 people were murdered as a result of domestic violence in 2011. Of those 32, 12 were shot to death, followed by the gun–related suicide of the assailant in 11 of those 12 instances... but it doesn't stop there.
"Victims are terrorized, tortured, threatened, intimidated with guns repeatedly before finally, perhaps, losing their lives, and we should always remember the potential lethality of domestic violence," said Riddle.
Like the case of Lake City, Minnesota police Officer Shawn Schneider, who was just laid to rest Saturday after being shot in the head while responding to a domestic abuse call in December.
According to retired Duluth Assistant Police Chief John Beyer—also a hunter—reasonable gun control laws may not prevent every future death, but it's a step in the right direction.
"...at least in one case, and if it works in one case, [then it's] worth it," said Beyer.
Included in the names of victims of gun related violence mentioned at the vigil was that of three year old Terrell Mayes, who was killed by stray gunfire in Minneapolis on December 26th.
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