Emotions run high at East Bay town hall on gun control

LAFAYETTE, Calif. (KGO) -- It was an emotionally charged town hall meeting on gun violence in the East Bay Saturday as many parents, teachers and students demanded change in the wake of a mass shooting in Florida just last week.

"It breaks my heart to see all the shootings and it's breaking again now that we've had another tragedy," said parent Laurie Herbert.

The town hall meeting at Stanley Middle School in Lafayette was hosted by East Bay Congressman, Mark DeSaulnier. He said this was one of the largest meetings he's ever hosted.

DeSaulnier told the packed house he supports a Federal ban on assault weapons and favors universal background checks for those trying to buy a gun.

RELATED: Mountain View cybersecurity giant Symantec no longer associated with NRA

DeSaulnier rejected President Trump's idea of arming teachers at schools.

"It's a sad day in America when we have to arm our teachers, said Congressman DeSaulnier.

Others took it a step further.

RELATED: NRA says Democrats exploiting Florida school shooting

"It's like putting lipstick on a pig, arming teachers is BS," said teacher Dan Reynolds.

A gun rights supporter interrupted the Town hall meeting, demanding equal time.

"It's already hard to buy a gun nowadays but when we have a mass shooting why don't we look at the problem, why are people doing this? Instead of just blaming gun owners," said Pleasanton gun rights supporter, Brad Fell.

At one point, emotions ran high and some tried to stop ABC7 from interviewing Fell by covering our camera lens and shouting him down.

Congressman DeSaulnier says he plans to hold more Town hall meetings in the future.