Richard Martinez, the father of slain UC Santa Barbara student Christopher Michaels-Martinez, is an invited guest at Tuesday night's State of the Union speech in Washington D.C.
Central Coast Rep. Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara) has worked with Martinez on shaping gun violence legislation and invited him to attend.
Martinez says he's hoping the 114th Congress will address the issue of gun violence. He's working with the group Everytown to lobby for new gun laws.
"The position of Everytown, which I agree with and have agreed to work with them, is that this is not a partisan issue," said Martinez. "It's not a question of NRA, it's not a question of conservative or liberal, it's a question of whether kids are going to be safe in schools and in colleges."
Martinez tells KCBX he's honored to be a guest at the address, but is not overly optimistic regarding the passage of meaningful gun legislation with the new congress.
You can hear special NPR coverage of President Obama's State of the Union address on KCBX Tuesday night starting at 6:00 p.m.