Gun violence is everyone's problem

After the shooting at the congressional baseball practice, one of the witnesses commented that he wasn't even safe at a baseball practice.

My son, John, an Aurora, Colorado, shooting victim, wasn't safe in a movie theater. There is violence in churches, schools, colleges, malls and any place else where people gather. No one is safe anywhere because gun violence is everywhere.

The National Rifle Association has a stranglehold on many of our elected officials. Not only are many in Congress not looking out for our safety, they are working to push the dangerous NRA agenda forward.

Two bills proposed in Washington are especially frightening. Concealed Carry Reciprocity means that anyone that can carry a gun legally in the state where they live could conceal carry in any state. Illinois has some of the toughest concealed carry requirements in the country and this would make a mockery of Illinois laws.

Legalizing silencers/suppressors is a stupid idea. The NRA says this is to protect hearing but admits that shooters in indoor ranges would still need hearing protection. When you listen to people that have been in or near a shooting, the sound of the gunshots was often the first thing that alerted them to something being wrong. How many more would have died in the theater with my son or at the baseball field if they hadn't heard gunfire?

Violence and especially gun violence are everyone's problem. You are one bullet away from you or a loved one being injured or killed by gunfire.

Kathleen Larimer

Crystal Lake