Orlando Shooting Victim's Mom Makes Emotional Plea at DNC

PHILADELPHIA, Penn. -- The mother of one of the victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting made an emotional plea from the stage of the Democratic National Convention as she called for commonsense gun policies.

Christine Leinonen, mother of Christopher Leinonen, told how her son and his boyfriend were among the 49 victims of the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.

She recalled that when Christopher was born, she was a Michigan state trooper and the hospital put her gun away as she prepared to give birth.

"When I went into labor, the hospital put my off-duty gun in a safe. I didn't argue," she said. "I know commonsense gun policies save lives."

"I'm glad commonsense gun policy was in place the day Christopher was born," Leinonen said. "But where was that common sense the day he died?"

Leinonen told how her son was an award-winning humanitarian who had started a gay-straight alliance at his high school.

"Christopher's paternal grandparents met and fell in love in a Japanese internment camp. So, it was in his DNA that love always trumps hate," she said.

Leinonen spoke to ABC News in the hours that immediately followed the Orlando shooting, when at the time she did not know the fate of her son.

"Please, let's all just get along," Leinonen said while gasping for breath. "We're on this earth for such a short time. Let's try to get rid of the hatred and the violence, please!"