VOICE FOR EVERYONE | Share your voice with KSHB 41’s Alyssa Jackson
Jasity's Law efforts are at the forefront following violence at Oak Park Mall and the Independence Center.
Instead of remembering Jasity Strong by the moments her family spent with her this summer, her mother Tamika Jenkins said the number 97 is what sticks.
"I remember; actually, I have it screen-shot in my phone; she's number 97 of homicide victims, and who knew she would even be a number," Jenkins, Jasity Strong's mother, said.
Jasity Strong was killed in a mass shooting near east 57th Street and Prospect Avenue. Since then, Kansas City has reached 163 homicides.
"I'm still grieving. I don't ever think I'll stop. That was my oldest child," Jenkins said.
The images you'll see of Jasity show all of the time they thought they had left.
She was a mother to her six-year-old daughter and a daughter to Jenkins.
With the time Jasity's family has after losing her, they are advocating for change.
"It's a prime example of Jasity's Law and why we need to get that passed," Jenkins said. "What is the point of people bringing firearms in a mall?"
Strong's family wants to tighten gun control laws in the state of Missouri starting in public spaces.
"Through my grieving, I don't want this to happen to some other mother, father, sibling, cousin or auntie. I just want it to stop it. No means am I trying to take fire arms from anybody. I know people need to protect their family, but I just feel like it shouldn't be at a big gathering," Jenkins said.
Strong's aunt and mother are the advocates behind Jasity's Law.
They said to move to the next steps, they need around 20,000 signatures.
After they reach their goal, they'll submit the petition to the Missouri Secretary of State's Office and then to local election authorities.
Election authorities will verify the signatures came from registered voters in the fifth congressional district.
—
