(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Debra Baum and others started the Highland Park Gun Violence Project after witnessing the horror of the July Fourth parade shooting there.
She and her obstetrician husband were among those startled when they realized someone was firing on the crowd. He ran, amid the chaos, to try to help some of those wounded.
Baum said the weapons fire so rapidly and the damage to bodies so great that people are like sitting ducks. There were 85 shots in one minute, she said. With assault weapons, Baum added, there's no time to react.
Her group produced a public service announcement urging people to call their U.S. Senators, and demand an assault weapons ban. It likens gun violence to a reality TV show.
“If you live in America, you’ve automatically been entered to be part of America’s next mass shooting, whether you like it or not,” a woman says during the advertisement. “Brought to you by the politicians who brought you ‘Thoughts and prayers.’”
The U.S. House has passed the assault weapons ban. Baum said time is running out to get a Senate vote on a national ban. Backers want a senate vote before the new Congress is seated.
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