TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Sammy’s Mexican Grill is family owned and as owner Jorge Rivas prepared an order with his son, he knew if they were faced with an intruder, he would use his gun.
“For my own safety and my family’s safety. Just in case some crazy guy comes over,” Rivas said.
When you step into Rivas restaurant, you’ll notice pictures of former president Trump hanging all around his business. He’s not shy when it comes to his political beliefs.
Biden is calling on Congress to ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines. Earlier this week he called on federal agencies to enforce the existing universal background check laws.
However, Rivas feels like President Biden expanding universal background checks on prohibited purchasers is like putting a band aid on a severe wound.
“They’re not addressing the problem. They’re just trying to fix the result of the problem. In order for that to work, they would have to get rid of every single gun and obviously that’s not going to happen,” Rivas said.
Biden is also asking the attorney general to enforce laws to stop people from selling guns illegally.
“They do deserve a second chance but like I said, again, they are not going after the real cause of the problem,” Rivas said.
Rivas said the problem with Biden and his administration is that he feels like they’re not promoting traditional moral values that could prevent mass shootings.
“Guns should only be handled by people that have not only the training, but the mental capacity to understand that they are a deadly weapon,” Rivas said.
However, some people like Pam Simon feel like Biden is making progress in preventing mass shootings.
Simon is a survivor of the January 8 shooting in Tucson, the day she got shot, saying “It just shook our sense of safety to the core.”
She supports Biden’s plan to crack down on background checks and said he’s clarifying the definition of a background check. She said it would allow people to know that a criminal is not buying a gun.
She also supports his plan to look into people who could be selling illegally.
“Looking at these firearms dealers for the reason that they are no longer in compliance,” Simon said.
She also agrees with Biden promoting a ban of assault weapons and promoting red flag laws.
“In addition to the efforts that President Biden is doing, we need our Congress and our state legislators to step up,” Simon said.
Biden is also asking the Federal Trade Commission to look into stopping the gun industry from marketing to kids.
Even with different beliefs, both Rivas and Simon said marketing guns to kids should be a crime.
“We teach our kids they got to be responsible, stay away from guns,” Rivas said while Simon said, “Money wins out over safety and we have to change that.”
——-
Andrew Christiansen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before joining the team, Andrew reported in Corpus Christi, Texas for KRIS6 News, Action 10 News and guest reported in Spanish for Telemundo Corpus Christi. Share your story ideas with Andrew by emailing andrew.christiansen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
