Highland Park July 4th parade slaughter unlikely to push Senate passing an assault weapons ban

Dozens of mourners gather for a vigil near Central Avenue and St. Johns Avenue in downtown Highland Park on Tuesday, one day after a gunman killed at least seven people and wounded dozens more by firing an AR-15-style rifle from a rooftop onto a crowd attending Highland Park’s Fourth of July parade. (Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times)

WASHINGTON — Next Monday, if all goes as planned, Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering and Highland Park Police Cmdr. Chris O’Neill, who led the response to the horrific July 4th parade massacre, will be at the White House. Gov. J.B. Pritzker is also invited.

They will be there to mark what has been billed a celebration to mark a new gun reform law, the first in some 30 years, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.