ORLANDO, Fla. — Families of victims of attacks at Pulse nightclub and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School marched into the Orange County Supervisor of Elections office Monday to file hundreds of petitions in their effort to ban assault weapons statewide.

“It adds insult to injury that not only do I lose my son who I love so much, but I have to recognize that we are legally letting people kill our loved ones — why is this possible?” said Christine Leinonen.

Her son, Drew Leinonen, was among the 49 killed when gunman Omar Mateen opened fire June 16, 2016 at Pulse nightclub in Orlando.

Wednesday marks the third year since the terror attack, and Leinonen says there has been far too little change to prevent another tragedy.

“When there’s inaction, it’s like you’re spitting on the graves of our loved ones,” Leinonen said.

Leinonen joined others including Gail Schwartz, whose nephew Alex Schachter was among the 17 killed on Valentine’s Day 2018 in a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

“Can you imagine sending your child to school, and they come home in a body bag?” Schwartz said.

Families join movement

The family members are part of a group called “Ban Assault Weapons NOW.”

With little movement in the state legislature, the families are now pushing for voters to decide whether the state of Florida should prohibit the future sale of assault weapons.

“If you have your gun, we’re not confiscating it, you can keep your assault weapon, this is new sales coming in,” Schwartz said.

The gunmen in the Pulse and Parkland attacks both used high-powered rifles.

The U.S. government’s “Federal Assault Weapons Ban” prohibited the manufacturing, sale, and use of certain semi-automatic firearms. The 10-year ban was in effect from 1994 until its expiration in 2004.

“It’s not the end all be all solution to the epidemic of gun violence that has gripped our state and our country, but it’s definitely part of the puzzle,” said State Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith (D-Orlando).

Smith has filed proposals in the past three sessions to ban assault weapons, but each time was denied hearings or votes.

“What a lot of citizens have realized is the way to actually get something done is to not work with the Florida Legislature, but to work around them with citizen-led ballot initiatives,” Smith said.

Support and critiques of ban

A 2018 poll by Florida Atlantic University shows a majority of Floridians support varied restrictions on gun laws.

Critics argue it infringes on the Second Amendment, a notion that ban supporters reject.

“If there is an angry person who has hate in their heart and wants to hurt people, they won’t be able to go out and buy a gun that’s capable of firing 30 rounds in 10 seconds,” Schwartz said. “Why do we need that? Why are we making it so easy for people to go on a shooting rampage?”

It may be more difficult this time for supporters to get a ban proposal on the 2020 ballot.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 5 into law recently, that now requires not only 766,200 valid petitions, but groups are now prohibited from paying people based on a quota of signatures.

Additionally, the law requires petition gatherers to gather a signee’s personal information including address and date of birth.

Schwartz said while they have raised $1 million and only a few more than 100,000 signatures, they are optimistic they will meet the demands required to get Florida Supreme Court approval to have the initiative on the 2020 ballot.

Parents like Leinonen say banning assault weapons is the only logical step forward to trying to prevent future tragedies.

“It’s like tick tock, tick tock, when’s the next mass shooting?” Leinonen said. “It’s going to happen, and you won’t even remember the name of where it happened.”