Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering speaks Monday evening during the first city council meeting since the Fourth of July mass shooting in Highland Park. | Screengrab

Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering again renewed calls for a federal ban on “assault weapons” during a special city council meeting Monday following the city’s Fourth of July mass shooting.

“Less than a month ago, on July 4th, our community gathered to celebrate Independence Day where we experienced the violent attack of a shooter with an assault weapon opening fire on our community’s families, friends, and neighbors. So many difficult days have unfolded since that tragedy,” Rotering said at the beginning of her speech.

Monday marked the first time since July 4 that the city council met in person at city hall.

Rotering said the lives of Katherine Goldstein, Irina McCarthy, Kevin McCarthy, Jacquelyn Sundheim, Stephen Straus, Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza and Eduardo Uvaldo were “taken too soon.”

A moment of silence was held for the seven victims killed and more than 50 others who were injured.

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The mayor thanked police and fire personnel along with community members and Community Emergency Response Team volunteers who helped in response to the shooting.

“They did not hesitate and responded with courage as they sacrificed their own safety to help others. I am so appreciative of our entire City team and all who have joined together to support our community. They have lifted us up with special care and attention and we are united in the face of trauma,” Rotering said.

Rotering called for action against the gun violence epidemic in the United States.

“We as a community are ready to meet this moment of national urgency. As your mayor, as your neighbor, as a parent, as a child of this city, as a human being – I will not stop trying. We will not stop trying,” the mayor said during her speech.

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Rotering traveled to the White House on July 11 for the signing of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.

Governor JB Pritzker and City of Highland Park Police Commander Chris O’Neill, who also traveled to the White House, spoke one-on-one with President Joe Biden before the signing event.

Rotering returned to Washington, DC last week after being invited by Senator Dick Durbin to testify in front of the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary.

“The federal government must ban assault weapons and large capacity magazines,” Rotering said during her Monday speech.

In the wake of the 2013 Sandy Hook shooting, Highland Park enacted a municipal ban on high-powered weapons and large-capacity magazines.

Rotering said that a federal ban would be “most effective.” “[…] we need help from all levels of government. We need to pursue all options. We need to save lives now.”

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“I have said it before, and it needs to be repeated – this shooting may have attacked our most basic and collective sense of humanity, but it will not define us. Our coming together in the wake of this vicious attack, our outpouring of support for one another, and our heeding the call to action will make a tangible difference and speak volumes about each of us and our community now and for years to come,” Rotering said in concluding her speech.