A candlelight vigil for victims of gun violence Friday night in Aurora, by design, became a political rally calling for stricter gun laws.
The rally, attended by about 75 people, kicked off about 6:30 p.m. at 3300 S. Parker Road in front of a building where U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman runs a local office.
Coffman was not present, but attendees brought a life-size cardboard cutout of the congressman.
“I don’t know about you, but my heart is aching, my soul is broken,” said state Rep. Rhonda Fields, D-Aurora, a gun-control advocate. Fields’ son, Javad Marshall-Fields, was murdered, fatally shot, in 2005, along with his fiancee, Vivian Wolfe.
Candlelight vigil for victims of gun violence, song, prayer, calls for stricter gun laws. pic.twitter.com/tJYpQ1C0cA
— kieran nicholson (@kierannicholson) October 7, 2017
Fields recalled Columbine, the Aurora theater massacre, Sandy Hook, the Pulse nightclub shooting in Florida and the Las Vegas attack.
She identified a common thread in the infamous tragedies — an “assault rifle.”
“What’s it going to take?” she emotionally begged the question for legislators to take action and tighten the availability of assault rifles, bump stocks and armor-piercing ammunition.
“Shame, shame, shame,” the crowd chanted at the Coffman cutout.
“We can’t be silent,” Fields told the gathering. “You have the courage to make this movement real.”
Fields and the gathering called on Coffman to support stricter laws on weapons and ammunition.
“Either you are going to stand for something or move out of the way and let someone do the job,” Fields called out to Coffman.
Tom Mauser, whose son Daniel was murdered at Columbine High School, attended the vigil wearing his son’s shoes.
Mauser, a nationally recognized gun-control advocate, led the gathering in prayer. Mauser prayed for Las Vegas victims, their families, first responders, survivors and all who step forward during the chaos of mass shootings to render aid and comfort.
“Pray that we, as a nation, will not turn to hopelessness and only see the worst of humanity,” Mauser urged.
Mauser noted our nation’s “shameful plague of gun violence,” and implored the gun industry and Congress “to have the same courage as people in Las Vegas to do what is right by us.”
Tom Sullivan, whose 27-year-old son, Alex, was killed in 2012 at the Aurora movie theater, attended the rally. He did not speak to the crowd. He wore a button with a photo of Alex on it.
“I don’t know what people’s number is, how many (dead) it will take before they act,” Sullivan said in an interview. “Don’t wait until the number becomes one — your son or your daughter — to get involved.”
A rally — No More Killing Fields — is planned for 3:30 p.m. Sunday on the west steps of the state Capitol.