Our previously quiet community of Highland Park has now been added to the long list of places that have experienced a mass shooting. There have been at least 314 mass shootings in the US this year alone (defined as a shooting of 4 or more people).

There has been a lot of focus on how this shooter obtained his guns. When there are over 2 shootings a day for the first 6 months of one year, the problem is not isolated to one individual. No one should be able to possess a weapon of war on our streets. The country had an assault weapons ban in place nationwide for 10 years, and this type of violence was reduced during that time. We need to put a nationwide assault weapons ban back in place immediately, before a tragedy like this strikes another community (although that may have happened in the time since I wrote this message).

Read more here.