Locals debate gun control ahead of president's announcement

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. - It only takes Roscoe Balam five seconds to explain why he wants more gun control.

"I'm a family man. I'm a father of a son who is dead right now. Murdered," said Balam.

His son Patrick, was 32 and a father of six.

"I miss him dearly, " said Balam.

Ten days ago, he was buried after being shot near where his father stood tonight in Pompey Park.

"We know that guns kill," said Balam.

Two miles from where he was standing, at the Delray Shooting Center, guns were flying off the shelves. Sales have doubled in the last month.

Tony Weadon was amongst the browsers.

"It's never really the gun's fault. That would be like saying it's the car's fault for getting in an accident. I don't have a problem with gun control," said Weadon, of Homestead. "I don't mind background checks, I don't mind a psychological exam."

Alex Mer eyed a new rifle.

"If you want to buy a gun, now is the time," said Mer, of Delray Beach. "What happened in Newtown, Connecticut is beyond horrible. Anyone is going to agree to that. But do we want to punish? There are 300 million weapons in America. Do we want to punish everybody?"

Wayne Barton's nephew was killed in the Delray Beach convenience store shootings around Christmas.

"Even standing here today it gives you an eerie feeling to know that my nephew, he died here in this location in his own blood," said Barton, as he stood on W. Atlantic Ave.

He wants an assault weapons ban not necessarily because of his nephew, but because of his son.

"My son is a police officer. Some of the weapons he sees on the street today people have better firepower, more updated firepower, and they have firepower that can get through a bulletproof vest," said Barton.