Illinois Governor Juliana Stratton (D-D) called for stricter gun control laws, said in a statement after a gunman killed at least six and wounded 24 others at a military parade on July 4 in Chicago’s Highland Park neighborhood.
Stratton offered her prayers for the Highland Park community but noted that “the pain we feel today is not normal and should never be.”
Enough is enough.
No society should experience what happened today in #highland park. #EndGunViolence pic.twitter.com/jk6BUnrKVQ
– Lt. Juliana Stratton (@LtGovStratton) 4 July 2022
“My family and I are praying for the Highland Park community and everyone who attended the Fourth of July Parade today to celebrate our country only for this celebration to turn into a tragedy,” Stratton added.
Our nation is saddened and stunned by this appalling act of armed violence. We must lean on each other for comfort, and pray for the lives lost, the injured and their families and friends, as well as the brave first responders from every government agency engaged in this mass shooting.” Stratton continued.
Stratton then went on to advocate for increased gun control.
“As we struggle to address everything that is happening today, we must again say ‘enough’,” Stratton said. “There are too many guns on our streets and we must enact common sense gun laws, stricter policies, and put resources in place to build safe and healthy communities that everyone deserves. .”
“Today we mourn with the people of Highland Park, and make it clear that we see them and all those affected by gun violence in our state by remaining committed to healing from this tremendous pain,” Stratton concluded.
Despite Stratton’s call for increased gun control, Highland Park already has some of the strictest gun laws in the country. In 2013, Highland Park officials issued a ban on “assault weapons” as well as a ban on magazines containing more than ten rounds.
As Ken Klokowski of Breitbart News wrote at the time, “Highland Park is part of the greater Chicago area and has a track record of opposing citizens exercising the Second Amendment right to keep and bear guns.”
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, D., also called for increased gun control in the wake of the shooting, saying, “I will stand firm with Illinois and Americans: We must – and we will – end the epidemic of gun violence.”
