Last year, on the Fourth of July, a gunman opened fire on a parade in Highland Park, Illinois, using a Smith & Wesson M&P15 semiautomatic rifle. The location of the massacre may seem shocking to some — parents, grandparents, and children were gathered to watch a parade in the same neighborhood where Molly Ringwald played Samantha Baker celebrating her birthday in Sixteen Candles and where Ferris Bueller took a day off. Easy access to a rapid-fire, military-caliber weapon allowed one hateful person to kill seven people and injure 48 more in less than one minute. What most surprises people about Highland Park is that it was just one of nearly 650 mass shootings last year alone — and those comprise only a small percent of the daily gun violence in this country.
Mass shootings are what we hear about most often in the news, but every day more than 120 Americans are shot and killed and hundreds more are shot and wounded. Guns surpassed cars to become the leading cause of death in the US for kids and teens. And yet, shootings like the one in Highland Park continue over and over in America’s smallest towns, biggest cities, and everywhere in between.
Created for lethal combat, assault weapons equipped with large-capacity magazines are responsible for some of the deadliest mass shootings in modern history. Victims at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas, at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, were all slaughtered by a shooter wielding these killing machines in a manner so violent that some of the school children in Uvalde could only be identified by their shoes.
Assault weapons and high-capacity magazines are often chosen by perpetrators of the violence that has gripped our nation. These exceptionally deadly firearms are weapons of war designed to deliver maximum destruction. Its bullets fly more than 3,000 feet per second and inflict much more serious wounds to their victims than a typical handgun. Law enforcement has decried their easy availability as police officers are rendered helpless against gunmen wielding high-powered, battle-grade weapons on the same streets where everyday citizens are going about their daily lives.
This way of life is uniquely American, where we attempt to coexist with weapons of war in our grocery stores, churches, theaters, and schools. It has led to countless premature burials and preventable instances of violence, more than in any other civilized nation.
Have we grown numb to the suffering behind these stories and these numbers? Has the constant barrage of breaking news about tragic shootings finally made us content to wave the white flag in our battle to save our children from an early grave?
We are not helpless in the fight against gun violence. States can take action to reduce fatalities and injuries by limiting access to assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. After the deadly shooting in Highland Park, the Illinois General Assembly banned the sale and distribution of assault weapons, high-capacity magazines, and machine gun conversion devices in Illinois.
These kinds of laws save lives. How do we know? Because Congress banned assault weapons for a decade beginning in 1994, and shootings and deaths from firearms decreased. Unfortunately, gun lobby-backed politicians have refused to reinstate the ban despite its proven effectiveness.
It is time for leaders across the ideological spectrum at every level of government to come together and take the necessary action to rid ourselves of this preventable plague once and for all. We simply can’t accept inaction. An assault weapon swiftly killed a six-year-old’s parents and brother in Allen, Texas, leaving him orphaned. A gunman wielding another assault weapon in Newtown, Connecticut, murdered 20 children and six adults in an elementary school. Ten Black victims in Buffalo were killed in just two minutes after a racially motivated attack on a grocery store. A shooter in Dayton, Ohio, killed nine people and injured 14 in just over half a minute using a semiautomatic, .223-caliber firearm with 100-round magazines. The gun’s manufacturer touted the weapon as “an orchestra of metal and hellfire.” In the Highland Park massacre, among the survivors was two-year-old Aiden McCarthy, whose mother and father were both killed while shielding him from the deadly bullets.
There is broad public support for bold action to curb gun violence. And while the passage of Red Flag laws, background checks, and secure firearms storage requirements are critical to addressing the gun violence crisis, we also must reinstate a federal assault weapons ban.
Until we take action, the killings will continue. For Aiden McCarthy, and for every family member who has had their life shattered by gun violence, we can and must do more.
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