Mothers Hold Silent Vigil Outside NRA Headquarters

About three dozen protesters with an organization called Moms Rising is holding a silent vigil outside the National Rifle Association's Fairfax headquarters.

They delivered a petition signed by 150,000 people asking the NRA to support common sense gun laws. The petitions were carried in baby carriages.

Organizer Gloria Pan says those common sense solutions include "universal background checks for all gun purchases a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and stricter federal laws against gun trafficking."

Among the protesters was Lori Haas, whose daughter survived the Virginia Tech mass shooting.

"We want a background check on all buyers so that we can stop criminals, domestic abusers, dangerously mentally ill people and others prohibited from purchasing firearms to get their hands on them," Haas says. "We have to dry up the illegal market."

The National Rifle Association argues that the way to end gun violence is to enforce existing gun laws not create new ones that may infringe on the rights of law-abiding gun owners. They also say that more emphasis needs to be placed on helping the seriously mentally ill who may be prone to violence.