Highland Park one year later: Advocacy becomes a way of coping, ‘doing the work they can’t do’

Abby Kisicki stands outside of the Dirksen Federal Building in the Loop after a rally for the ban of assault weapons, Thursday, June 29, 2023. Three federal appellate judges confronted lawyers challenging Illinois’ ban on assault weapons, passed in the wake of the mass shooting in Highland Park that is nearing its one-year anniversary. (Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times)

Every day for the last year, Abby Kisicki has wondered why she and her parents survived the mass shooting at Highland Park’s Fourth of July parade that killed seven people and wounded dozens of others.

She has gotten through those days by becoming an advocate for gun control, believing she is fighting for “the seven” by “doing the work they can’t do themselves.”