"I don't want prayers. I don't want thoughts. I want gun control."
That was the powerful emotional demand from Susan Orfanos after her 27-year-old son Telemachus was killed in the mass shooting Wednesday night in Thousand Oaks, California that left more than a dozen dead and many more wounded.
Offering a horrifying illustration of just how pervasive gun violence is in America, Susan Orfanos said her son survived the Las Vegas festival shooting last October that left over 50 people dead—making it the deadlist mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
"My son was in Las Vegas with a lot of his friends and he came home," Orfanos said in an interview with ABC7. "He didn't come home last night."
"I have two words: gun control," Orfanos added in an interview with BuzzFeed on Thursday. "Now, now, now, now. No more NRA. No more money. Gun control now."
“I hope to God no one sends me anymore prayers. I want gun control. No more guns!” - mother of shooting victim Telemachus Orfanos. She says he survived the #LasVegasShooting but did not survive the #ThousandOaksMassacre. @ABC7 @ABCNewsLive pic.twitter.com/UMqTY1RATK
— Veronica Miracle (@ABC7Veronica) November 8, 2018
Echoing Orfanos' plea for action from U.S. lawmakers who have for far too long allowed the gun lobby to restrain meaningful steps against America's uniquely deadly gun problem, one woman from Thousand Oaks asked a question on the mind of every concerned citizen: "How many more times is this going to happen?"
“How many more times is this going to happen?" a woman in Thousand Oaks asks on behalf of every American.
Our lawmakers have the power to stop this. Demand it.
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) November 9, 2018
