The mother of one of the Orlando
victims made an emotional appeal for greater gun control during a
speech Wednesday at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in
Philadelphia.
Christopher Andrew “Drew” Leinonen,
32, and his boyfriend, Juan Ramon Guerrerro, 22, were among the 49
people who died last month when a lone gunman opened fire at the
Pulse, a gay nightclub. Dozens more were injured in the attack.
Christine Leinonen, 49, was joined on
the stage by Pulse survivor Brandon Wolf and a former boyfriend of
her son's, Jose Arriagada.
She told the delegates that she would
often tell her son that he was an only child because “you can't do
better than perfect.”
“Christopher's paternal grandparents
met and fell in love in a Japanese internment camp, so it was in his
DNA that love always trumps hate,” she told the crowd.
She recollected that as a former
Michigan state trooper, her gun was stowed away by hospital workers
when she delivered her son.
“I am glad common-sense gun policy
was in place the day Christopher was born,” Leinonen
said. “But where was that common sense the day he died?”