Rally for gun control at Brooklyn rally

NEW YORK (WABC) -- The gritty urban streets of Brownsville, Brooklyn couldn't be more different than the bucolic Village of Sandy Hook. But what binds these two communities now, is far deeper than anything that might have separated them a week ago.

"My son is gone for no reason at all, someone murdered my son," said Natasha Christopher, mother.

Natasha's 14-year-old son Akael was shot and killed this summer in Brownsville, one of four children murdered by guns in just this neighborhood this year, the gun violence here so pervasive, this is what the children practice saying.

"Don't shoot. I want to live. Don't shoot. I want to live," the crowd chanted at a rally.

"Damn it, how many kids have to be killed?" said Charles Hynes, Kings County District Attorney

Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes says gun laws have to change to save children and he thinks now is the time.

"This is an electrifying moment, the anger that is being expressed across this country from Republicans and Democrats and Conservatives and Progressives is something that's not going to pass," Hynes said.

But gun control opponents say new laws won't stop criminals.

"Connecticut had all the laws you can want on the books and it didn't stop this crime," said Mike Long, of the Conservative Party.

But in Brownsville, they believe doing nothing isn't good enough. They held photos of the victims from Newtown Thursday night, because here, as there, the status quo is costing young lives.

"I wasn't prepared to lose a son to gun violence and I have two other boys, so I hope that the president and everybody just gets together and they find a solution, time to stop talking and just find a solution to this gun violence," Christopher said.

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new york city, brooklyn, brownsville, gun control, newtown school shooting, new york news, jim dolan

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