Stephen Barton's photo of his movie ticket
NEW YORK -- Syracuse University graduate Stephen Barton, who survived the tragic Aurora theater shooting in July, is disappointed that Wednesday’s presidential debate did not address gun violence.
Earlier this week week, Stephen Barton appeared in ads calling on President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney to develop a plan to end gun violence.
Barton told The Huffington Post that, "they acted as if they had moved on completely" from the Aurora and Columbine High School mass shootings that took place just miles from the Denver debate.
"It really does blow my mind that it doesn't receive some attention," Barton told the Huffington Post. "It's easy to think for some people that it will never affect them personally."
During the debate, Barton tweeted, "The state of our economy is important, but what about the 48K lives that will be lost to gun violence in next 4 years? I still #DemandAPlan."
Barton told the New York Daily News that, "It just blows my mind that ten miles from Aurora and not too far from Columbine … that it wouldn’t come up at all in a debate that was billed as domestic policy."
Barton works in policy research and victims outreach for Mayor Michael Bloomberg's organization, Mayors Against Illegal Guns. He spoke about gun violence on the steps of New York City Hall after meeting with Bloomberg on Wednesday.
