Drunk driving laws were the focus of a town hall meeting in Wichita Thursday. The DUI Victim Center Of Kansas organized the meeting in response to last week's crash that killed Claudia and Giselle Mijares. The mother and daughter were killed outside Gardiner Elementary. Gary Hammitt, a man with previous DUI convictions, is charged in the case.

Kansas State Senator Phillip Journey presented current DUI legislation and what changes may be needed. Dawson Grimsley was also on hand, encouraging those attending to voice their concerns to legislators, to get changes in future legislation made.

Karen Wittman, the Kansas traffic safety resource prosecutor, and Dave Corp, a KDOT bureau of traffic safety official, took time to speak at the meeting.

Wittman said while she believes Kansas has a good basis for its DUI laws, there are too many loop holes that allow offenders back on streets, and behind the wheel. She pinpointed loop holes like offenders bypassing interlock devices on cars, because the car is registered to non-offender.

Corp said he too thinks Kansas has good laws, but wants to see DUI specific courts and prisons created. He also wanted to see court officials and prosecutors trained better, to ensure they know the laws before sentencing offenders.

The meeting ended with a question and answer session as well as a comment session by citizens. During that time, the crowd heard from people who have lost family members to drunk drivers and a convicted drunk driver.

Mary Ann Khoury, who helped organize the meeting said she hopes to use this as a spring board to create a DUI task force in the coming months.