Families impacted by gun violence react to Safer Alabama bill package
Marvin Billups is one Alabamian impacted by gun violence, losing his son Demarco Billups on New Years Eve to gun violence in Tuscaloosa, AL.
Billups said he's now using his tragic loss to speak out against gun violence and advocate for change.
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'Once a life is ended you can't get that back or bring that back, so my initiative for me? It's personal to get out in the community and do what I can to be a voice,' said Billups.
Billups initiative is one Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox spoke about during Gov. Kay Ivey's event for the Safer Alabama Bill package.
'There's nothing you can say to someone who has lost their son to tragic gun violence that can heal that wound,' said Mayor Maddox.
According to Gov. Ivey, the 'Safe Alabama' bill package is also an effort to expand Aniah's Law, a state law passed following the abduction and death of 19-year-old college student Aniah Blanchard, which allows a judge to deny bail to violent offenders.
'Turning a tragic situation to help and prevent others from going through the same trauma we have gone through as Aniah's parents, it brings me great joy,' said Aniah Blanchard's father, Elijah Blanchard.
Blanchard said the need to end violence in all realms is necessary now more than ever.
'Gun violence is out of control, it's too accessible. They can go anywhere and buy it the same day and that's just not very safe and we hope we can put a governor on that to help this law be more instrumental, and I hope that this law will be more instrumental to help those guidelines be more strictly enforced,' said Blanchard.Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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In her entire law career, Sarah McCracken has never seen anything like the email she received on June 25. McCracken, a tenants' rights lawyer at Tobener Ravenscroft, is currently representing a Latino family suing a landlord and real estate agent for illegal eviction after being kicked out of their Baldwin Park home last year. A few weeks after being served, amid a series of ICE raids primarily targeting Latino communities in L.A. County, Rod Fehlman, the lawyer who appeared to be representing the agent at the time, sent McCracken's team a series of emails disputing the lawsuit and urging them to drop the case. He ended the correspondence with this: 'It is also interesting to note that your clients are likely to be picked up by ICE and deported prior to trial thanks to all the good work the Trump administration has done in regards to immigration in California.' 'It's racist,' McCracken said. 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'I don't know if Benavides was aware that his lawyer is making racially profiling comments, but I don't think he'd want to work with someone like that,' McCracken said. The case is still in its early stages. Benavides and Majesty One Properties responded to the complaint on July 17, and McCracken's team hasn't officially served the landlord Ruiz yet because they've been unable to locate her. In the wake of the ICE comment, communication between McCracken and Fehlman halted. McCracken decided Fehlman's rant and possible threat didn't warrant a response, and Fehlman hasn't said anything else in the meantime. Her team is still deciding how they want to proceed in the wake of the comment, which could justify legal action. She called it a dangerous attempt to chill her client's speech and a failed attempt to intimidate her into dropping the case. But he took it way too far. 'We're at a point in time where lawyers need to be upholding the rule of law,' she said. 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