One day after a mass shooting at the Washington Navy Yard members of a gun-control group formed after the tragedy in Newtown, Conn., visited the capital to meet with legislators in their efforts to curb gun violence in the United States, according to NBC News.
The trip had been planned by the Newtown Action Alliance approximately nine months after the shooting at an elementary school that took the lives of 26 people in order to ask Congress to require stronger background checks in order to purchase a firearm, according to the Associated Press.
Many of the members of the group are displeased that no federal action has been taken to create stronger gun laws since the incident. The brother of one of the teachers killed in the shooting, Carlos Soto, promised that the group won't stop until Congress takes action, according to the Associated Press.
"It's been nine months and there's still no action on the federal level," Soto said. "We're not gonna go away."
David Ackert, the founder of the Newtown Action Alliance, empathized with the families of the victims of the recent shooting and told the Associated Press that he hopes the tragedy can get Congress to take action.
"It definitely brings back terrible feelings, and we know what the families are going through," Ackert said. "It exacerbates the reason we're going, and we're determined to get the politicians to stop looking the other way, now that it's come to their doorstep."
Ackert also had some words of advice for those dealing with the shooting.
"We're nine months ahead of where they're going to be, so we're going to see if we can help in any way possible," Ackert told NBC News. "You need to have hope and you need to have a sense of community to pull through things like this. Newtown has been an amazing community. We are coming out of the much stronger than we were before."
Long-time gun control supporter Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., issued a statement after the shooting mourning the loss of life but also calling for action, according to NBC News.
"Congress must stop shirking its responsibility and resume a thoughtful debate on gun violence in this country," Feinstein said. "We must do more to stop this endless loss of life."
The group seen by some as responsible for derailing any Congressional attempts at passing gun-control laws in the wake of the Newtown shooting, the National Rifle Association, issued a very brief statement on their website saying they "grieve and pray for those who lost their lives" in the Navy Yard incident.
