"I don't want to be here tonight. I should not be here tonight," said Erica Smegielski, the daughter of the principal who died protecting her students in the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting, as she stood before the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday night.
In an emotional speech calling for gun control, Smegielski reminisced about her mother Dawn and urged America to elect "another mother who is willing to do what's right." "I am here alone without my mother, while too many politicians cower behind the gun lobby," Smegielski said.
Smegielski was one of several speakers Wednesday urging action on gun control, including survivors and relatives of those killed at Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina, and the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
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