MICHAEL NAUGHTON

As the family members of gun victims spoke on City Hall Plaza yesterday, the number on the digital counter behind them changed from 3,945 to 3,946.  

Another person had died from gun violence.

The nearly two dozen people, most who had lost a relative to gun violence, spoke during the call for change.

Some of the pleas were simple.

“I just want all the youth violence to stop,” said Nicole Martin without saying anything else at the podium. Her 14-year-old son, Jaewon, was fatally shot last year in Roxbury.

However, the issue that brought them all together and its solution are complicated.

Other family members said that besides addressing gun check loopholes, the focus should be on the community.

“We also need to look at those who are pulling the trigger,” said Tina Chery, whose son was fatally shot in 1993. “We also have to make sure we connect with their families.”

Mayor Thomas Menino joined the families and 550 mayors from across the U.S in support of legislation to close gun check loopholes.

Truck touring the nation

Yesterday’s call for change was part of the Fix Gun Checks Truck Tour.

The tour, sponsored by Mayor Thomas Menino’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns coalition, stopped in City Hall Plaza yesterday.

Those who spoke urged Congress to pass the gun control measures, which include requiring background checks for every gun sale.

The truck is counting the number of people who have died from violence since the shootings in Tucson, Ariz.