Civil Liberties

Gun Opponents Stage Small Philly Rally To Push Restrictions

There's the bus. You missed it.

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Beverly Wright has spent more than 2,700 days mourning her 23-year-old son, Emein Smith, who was shot and killed in Chester in 2005.

On Monday, at a rally of local leaders, law enforcement officials, and anti-violence advocates, she asked parents to imagine living for all that time without their children.

"The pain of losing a son or daughter is the hardest thing a person has to endure," she said, standing before Chester City Hall alongside a quilt she had made from her son's clothing. "But it stings the whole community. . . . We want to go outside without fear."

Wright was one of more than 50 people who gathered Monday as part of the "No More Names" national bus tour, which is aimed at keeping the gun-control debate in the spotlight. The tour began in Newtown, Conn., on the six-month anniversary of the school shootings there and will make stops in 25 states.