After an apparently stray bullet killed a Forsyth County teen in a Raleigh hotel room last week, North Carolina gun control advocates are renewing their calls for firearms reforms.
According to ABC News, Nathan Andrew Clark, 13, of Lewisville, died after a bullet discharged in a neighboring hotel room. Police said the bullet passed through the wall and struck Clark in the head.
The gun’s owner, 42-year-old Randall Louis Vater, was reportedly charged with involuntary manslaughter and possession of a firearm by a felon. State records show Vater has a lengthy criminal record, including convictions for felony breaking and entering, larceny, drug possession and assault on a female.
This week, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America called on lawmakers to close the loopholes that allow felons to obtain guns without a background check.
“While we don’t know all the details, we do know that shootings like this cannot become the new normal for parents here in North Carolina and around the country,” said Kaaren Haldeman, a volunteer for the North Carolina chapter of the group. “While the gun lobby continues to fight against legislation that would keep guns out of dangerous hands and to weaken gun laws around the country, Moms will fight for safer gun laws to help stem the tide of gun violence that too often takes the lives of innocent children.”
The group, which has become one of the country’s leading advocates for gun reforms, started after the Newtown, Conn., school shooting in December 2012. The group received an Indy Citizen’s Award this year.
