Once again, an angry young man with a high-powered rifle wreaks bloody havoc on an American community. Once again, heartbroken families must plan funerals for loved ones. Once again, something so simple — like going to church or attending school and now watching a parade — is added to the pleasures of life that can no longer be taken for granted. And once again, we must ask why we allow this madness to continue. How many more families and communities have to be needlessly ripped apart before something is finally done about the weapons that make it obscenely easy to kill the most people in the shortest period of time?

Six people were slaughtered in a terrifying matter of minutes on Monday by a gunman perched on a rooftop who took aim and fired more than 70 rounds at the traditional Fourth of July parade in the Highland Park suburb of Chicago. A seventh victim died on Tuesday. Dozens of others were injured. Victims ranged in age from 8 to 88. “It was just this sea of panic, and people just falling and falling,” one witness told CNN, recounting how one minute people were cheering on the floats and marching bands — and then, realizing the noise from a nearby rooftop was gunfire and not part of the show, they frantically ran for cover. Nicolas Toledo, 76, was sitting in a wheelchair when he was struck by bullets and killed. His family had recently moved him to Highland Park from Mexico, his granddaughter said, “so he could have a better life.”