Survivors rally in Washington, D.C., for stricter gun laws
Highland Park parade shooting survivors led a rally Wednesday in Washington, D.C., calling for stricter gun control and a federal assault weapons ban.
The Highland Park survivors, along with survivors and families from Uvalde, Texas, have been in the nation's capital all week, meeting with lawmakers in advance of this rally.
Seven paradegoers were killed in the July 4 Highland Park shooting. Nineteen children and two teachers died in the May 24 Uvalde school shooting.
"Just thinking about how much worse it could've been, how we're the lucky ones - I think even if it can just impact one person to change the way they think about gun control," Highland Park survivor Natalie Lorentz said.
Tania Morgan of Highland Park said her two children, ages 2 and 6, no longer feel safe anywhere.
"I haven't explained to them that this is the world. I just explained to them that this was the day. They don't know yet that this is how our world is. Maybe I can change it. I'm trying."
Last month, Congress passed the first significant piece of gun legislation in 30 years with bipartisan support, but gun-control advocates say it doesn't go far enough.
"The legislation we're voting on in the House today is legislation that will ensure that next time this happens, and, though there shouldn't be a next time, we know that there will be, that communities will be able to get the information they need that will save lives. That's a step, but we need to do so much more," said U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider, a Highland Park Democrat who, with other members of Illinois' delegation, requested a moment of silence Wednesday on the House floor to honor the victims of the Highland Park shooting
The new law expands background checks for prospective gun buyers aged 18-21 but falls far short of restricting gun sales or banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
"We need to raise the buying age for assault weapons. We need to ban them. We need to ban high-capacity magazines," said U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a Hoffman Estates Democrat. "The leading killer of children under the age of 16 in this country is gun violence. It's gun violence and I want to be angry, because I am angry, and you need to be angry."