Christine Leinonen, the mother of Orlando shooting victim Christopher “Drew” Leinonen, gave an absolutely heartrending speech at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday about the loss of her only child and the need for gun control.
Watch the arresting, emotional speech an Orlando shooting victim’s mother gave at the DNC
Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images
Through tears, Leinonen described her son, who was 32, as “better than perfect.” She said that he was a “big Hillary supporter” and she is too. She talked about how the weapon that killed her son fired 30 rounds in one minute — and that it took five minutes for church bells to ring 49 times in honor of the 49 victims.
“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? I never want you to ask that question about your child. That is why I support Hillary Clinton.”
“Christopher’s grandparents met and fell in love in a Japanese internment camp,” Leinonen said. “It was in his DNA that love always trumps hate.” The crowd at the DNC stood and cheered at that line.
Leinonen drew national attention immediately following the shooting for her arresting, emotional news interviews on how hard it was not to know if her son was alive. Drew Leinonen, along with his boyfriend Juan Ramon Guerrero and 47 others, were murdered at the Pulse nightclub in the deadliest mass shooting and anti-LGBTQ hate crime in US history.
