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Protesters Slam NRA At White Plains Demonstration

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Opponents of the National Rifle Association protested in White Plains Sunday afternoon – including one woman who narrowly escaped the Las Vegas massacre last year.

As WCBS 880's Ethan Harp reported, the group gathered on steps of the Westchester Republican Committee office. Erin Fuller grew up near Sandy Hook Elementary School where Adam Lanza shot and killed 20 young children and six educators in December 2012, and she and her fiancé were in the concert crowd in Las Vegas last October when she left to use a hotel restroom.

"I can still hear it as clear as day," Fuller said.

Erin Fuller
Erin Fuller speaks as protesters slam the NRA in White Plains on Sunday, Feb. 18, 2018. (Credit: Ethan Harp/WCBS 880)

Stephen Paddock, 64, opened fire, killing 58 people and injuring more than 800 others as he fired at a country music festival from his hotel suite on Oct. 1 of last year.

"We knew something was really wrong, but I convinced myself that it was a helicopter because it sounded like it was coming from the sky!" Fuller said.

White Plains Anti-NRA Rally
Protesters slam the NRA in White Plains on Sunday, Feb. 18, 2018. (Credit: Ethan Harp/WCBS 880)

Fuller is holding the NRA accountable for the growing list of attacks, as is state Assemblywoman and Senate candidate Shelley Mayer (D-Yonkers).

"We have an NRA-controlled Republican Party in Congress that is refusing to the right thing," Mayer said.

White Plains Anti-NRA Rallylly_0218b
Protesters slam the NRA in White Plains on Sunday, Feb. 18, 2018. (Credit: Ethan Harp/WCBS 880)

Mayer's Republican challenger, Julie Killian, backs universal background checks. He blames the shooting last week in which Nikolas Cruz, 19, is accused of opening fire and killing 17 people at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on missed warning signs.

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