Christine Leinonen, the mother of Christopher “Drew” Leinonen spoke on July 27 advocating for commonsense gun reform.
Drew was one of the 49 killed in the Pulse nightclub massacre on June 12. He was there with his boyfriend, Juan Guerrero, who was also killed. Drew was 32 and Juan was 22.
Christine Leinonen told the story of when she was a Michigan state trooper and pregnant with Drew. When she went into labor, the hospital she was admitted to took away her off-duty gun.
“I’m glad commonsense gun policy was in place the day Christopher was born,” Leinonen said. “But where was that common sense the day he died?”
She also shared anecdotes about Drew’s life: he championed for the formation of a Gay-Straight Alliance at his high school and recently won the Anne Frank Humanitarian Award for his continued work as an LGBT-rights activist.
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