Georgians call for stricter gun laws

ATLANTA - Nadiyah Muhammad’s family launched the community outreach organization Assad the GxD in honor of her brother Assad Muhammad. He was murdered in 2020 while coming to a woman’s defense in a domestic dispute.

"He was the person who would give you the last off his plate, the shoes off his feet literally, so we decided to start an organization to keep his spirit going," Muhammad told FOX 5’s Deidra Dukes.

Many who attended Tuesday’s news conference, like Muhammad, have lost family members to gun violence and are now joining religious leaders and community activists in calling for stricter gun laws in the wake of last week’s deadly mass shooting at a Christian school in Nashville.

The group is urging Congress to pass The Gun Violence Prevention and Community Safety Act of 2022.

U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Georgia’s 4th Congressional District, introduced the legislation a week after the 10-year anniversary of the Sandy Hook School massacre.

The bill calls for the strengthening of federal firearms laws and support of gun violence research, intervention and prevention initiatives, like conflict resolution classes, to teach youth how to resolve disputes without resorting to gun violence.

"We always talk about taking guns out of their hands and stopping them from doing certain things," said Xeron Pledger, who founded the organization Delivering C.H.A.N.G.E. "But we aren’t giving them alternatives."