Friend —

By now, I’m sure you have seen the tragedy unfolding in Lewiston, Maine. On Wednesday night, a gunman armed with an assault weapon shot and killed 18 people and injured 13 others at multiple locations in town before fleeing. Law enforcement has yet to catch him.

Wednesday night, Mainers went to bed with heavy hearts over this significant loss, and yesterday morning they woke up to a community in lockdown for fear of more casualties. Only in America are mass shootings the norm.

When the gunfire started, the local children’s bowling league was in progress. Witnesses, including children, have recounted being grazed by bullets and hiding in bowling pin machinery. It is our greatest moral failing as a country that we continue to let these types of deadly weapons into our community spaces, when we have seen nothing but tragedy and trauma as a result.

I know what it means to lose a loved one to gun violence — I lost my father to gun violence. My heart aches for the people of Lewiston who are now faced with that same pain.

This is the 565th mass shooting in America this year. We cannot continue to allow lawmakers to look the other way as more and more of our people die.

I have dedicated my life to serving my community, and as an advocate and a Congresswoman, I fought to pass gun safety legislation. In the House, I was the chair of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force. Today I am as resolute as ever in that mission, and when I am elected to the U.S. Senate, I will make it my No. 1 priority to reel in the gun lobby and fight for a future where Americans don’t have to fear for their lives just by going out to dinner or to their local bowling alley. No más.

Debbie Mucarsel-Powell