Chicago family impacted by gun violence shares story at Obama town hall

CHICAGO (WLS) -- President Obama is pushing his gun control plan, using Chicago's gun violence as an example of what needs to change.

This month, Chicago is on pace to double the number shooting deaths in the month of January last year.

"Let's go back to the city of Chicago that has strong gun-control laws. Often the NRA will point to that as an example and say, 'See? These things don't work.' Well, the problem is that about 30-40 percent of those guns are coming from Indiana, from across the border, where there are much laxer laws," Obama said at a town hall meeting in Virginia Thursday night.

A Chicago family directly affected by gun violence was in the audience.

Tre Bosely's brother was killed ten years ago outside his church after practicing with the choir. Tre and his mother, Pam, attended the town hall to share their story.

Bosely asked the president what advice he would give to young people growing up surrounded by poverty and gun violence.

"When I see you, I think about my own youth. Cause I wasn't that different than you. Probably wasn't as articulate, maybe more of a goof-off. But the main difference was I lived in a more forgiving environment. If I screwed up, I wasn't at risk of getting shot. I'd get a second chance. There were a bunch of folks who were looking out for me and there weren't a lot of guns on the streets. That's how all kids should be growing up," Obama said.

Father Michael Pfleger of Saint Sabina Church also attended the meeting. The president explained what's happening in Pfleger's neighborhood:

"So folks will go to a gun show and purchase a whole bunch of firearms, put them in a van, drive up into Mike Pfleger's neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago, where his parish is, open up the trunk and those things are for sale," Obama said.

The town hall comes on the heels of the president's executive action expanding background checks, including background checks on people who re-sell guns.