Aug 10, 2019

Yang moved to tears by gun violence story as he outlines prevention plan

Rebecca Falconer

Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang speaks during a forum on gun safety at the Iowa Events Center on August 10 — Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang. Photo: Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang broke down Saturday at a forum in Des Moines, Iowa, hosted by Everytown for Gun Safety, as he discussed gun violence with a woman whose 4-year-old daughter was killed by a stray bullet.

Details: The woman said the girl's twin saw the incident. "She died 2 days later,” the woman said. "As president, how would you address unintentional shootings by children?" After composing himself, Yang outlined his policy for personalized guns, which include safety features to prevent unauthorized use. "One of my proposals is to actually help gun owners upgrade their guns to personalized guns free of charge," he said.

The big picture: A June Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health study of 1,444 gun owners surveyed found 4 in 5 support the sale of both traditional and personalized guns through licensed dealers. Only 18 percent of gun owners reported being likely to buy a personalized gun for themselves when considering the additional costs.

Yang told the forum, "If we can convince Americans that personalized guns are a good idea then again, if the child gets ahold of the gun, then they can't do anything with it. Then it just becomes a very heavy, expensive prop."

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Yang moved to tears by gun violence story as he outlines prevention plan

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