Nick Wilcox is one of the few who can say he truly understands the pain relatives of Orlando victims are feeling.
“It's like being afloat in the middle of the ocean and struggling to keep your head out of the water,” Wilcox said.
His daughter was killed 15 years ago after a gunman opened fire at the mental health clinic where Laura Wilcox worked.
“We had to survive for the sake of our sons,” Wilcox said. “Absent that, I'm not sure that I would still be alive.”
Now he advocates for stricter gun control with the Brady campaign.
The group rallied in Sacramento to bring attention to their cause, but gun rights advocates argue more gun laws would make Americans less safe.
“If you make it harder the only people you're penalizing are law abiding citizens who comply with the law,” Sam Paredes, Executive Director of Gun Owners of California, said.
Federal authorities say the Orlando shooter bought an assault weapon and a handgun legally in Florida. Pro-gun advocates say stricter laws would not have stopped him.
“This guy was deranged and was going to do whatever he wanted to do, whatever he needed to do in his own conscience,” Paredes said. “All of the laws could not prevent that.”
The Brady Campaign disagrees and calls for universal background checks and a ban on assault weapons.