CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte city council member Malcolm Graham hosted a roundtable discussion Thursday to talk about gun regulation reform and deducing violent crimes.
Graham, a Democrat representing Charlotte's second district, used the event to pledge his support for President Biden's reelection campaign.
"We need to prevent crime before it occurs," Graham said. "We need to make sure those with guns exercise their constitutional rights to have them but in a responsible way."
Graham would like to see restrictions on semiautomatic weapons.
"You don't need a weapon that shoots 30 or 40 rounds a minute on the streets of Charlotte," he said. "No place in neighborhoods and community."
Graham called the restrictions common sense.
"I think we need to enforce common sense gun legislation, closing the Charleston loophole, which is one of those loopholes that Dylan Roof utilized to get a gun to kill my sister and eight others," he said.
Graham's sister, Cynthia Hurd, was among those killed in 2015 inside Mother Emanuel AME Zion Church in Charleston.
"As someone who lost their sister to gun violence, who was shot 11 times, we still have work to make Charlotte a safe place," Graham said when asked about the discovery this week a 14-year-old child had been shot and killed in Charlotte. "That's why we need to have the legislation in place to get these weapons off the street."