The wife of a man who was killed in the San Bernardino terrorist attack is turning her grief into activism almost one year after the deadly attack. Kathy Vara reports for the NBC4 News at 5 on Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016.
Nearly a year after the San Bernardino terrorist attacks, the wife of a man who was killed is turning her grief into activism, focusing on gun control.
Trenna Meins has been reluctant to speak to the media, but she opened up to a group of students at Cal State San Bernardino.
Her husband, Damian, was among 14 people killed Dec. 2 by a husband and wife armed with semi-automatic rifles who stormed a conference room where the man's colleagues from the San Bernardino County Health Department were attending a training event and holiday gathering.
"My husband was shot five times in a matter of seconds," she said. "He didn't have the chance to get down on the floor."
Trenna Meins said her husband knew the gunman and even mentioned he was concerned about his safety.
"We had a discussion about this individual and I just said, 'Stay away. Just stay away,'" she said.
Meins worked at the county's health department, a family man who loved holidays enough to dress up as Santa Claus. She said she thinks he would have supported her decision to speak out now on the issue of gun control.
"People that don't deserve to have a gun, don't get a gun," she said. "There's lots of people, and Congress know that. There's a lot of people who have mental illness. There's a lot of people that have domestic violence."
Meins said she's not suggesting a total ban. She wants a more open discussion on gun policy.
"What I'm saying is, 'Come to the table. Let's talk about it,'" she said.
Although Meins said life will never be the same for her and her two daughters, she has found a way to forgive the shooters.
"I don't hate them," she said. "They were misguided."
Meins said she gets her strength from the survivors and the families of the victims.
She knows taking on the controversial issue of gun control means dealing with outrage from those who don't understand or agree with her ideas. But she also wants people to know her husband was a good man.
"He did everything he was supposed to do. And he was the much better person between the two of us," she said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
