(CBS News) — Some of the families of the victims of the Newtown mass shooting are not calling for a ban of the type of weapon Adam Lanza used to murder their loved ones.
In an interview that airs on “60 Minutes” Sunday at 7 p.m. on CBS 6 the night before they go to Washington to speak out for gun control, the families tell Scott Pelley they realize banning assault-type weapons is a complicated and politicized issue.
Nelba Marquez-Greene lost her 6-year-old daughter Ana in the rampage that took the lives of 20 young children and six adults in the Sandy Hook Elementary School last Dec. 14.
Early on, right after the massacre, she had a different feeling about guns.
“At first…my heart was, ‘Let’s have a big bonfire and burn everything. Let’s burn all these damn guns,” remembers Marquez-Greene. “I have since learned that it’s a more complex issue than just saying, ‘Let’s ban assault weapons.’” she tells Pelley. “We’re looking for real change and common sense solutions. Not things that just sound good.”
Her husband, Jimmy Greene, says the conversation becomes a political argument when talk of banning and confiscating weapons arises.
“It’s so much bigger than a political debate. It’s so much bigger than Democrats versus Republicans, conservative versus liberals,” he says. “ I believe, in my humble opinion, this all transcends that.”
The people Pelley speaks to in this story have said the big issues in gun control for them now are stiffening the background checks required to keep weapons away from the mentally ill and the limitation of magazine sizes to reduce the number of bullets that can be fired before reloading.
Watch the interview Sunday on CBS 6 starting at 7 p.m.
