‘Enough is enough’: Kansas City Mayor reflects on parade shooting at rally to end gun violence

By Mark Poulose

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    KANSAS CITY, Missouri (KCTV) — The Kansas City chapter of Mothers Demand Action hosted a rally to end gun violence on Saturday at Washington Square Park.

Elected leaders, including Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, were in attendance at the event.

“In the last year, we’ve had shootings at Oak Park Mall, Independence Center, Crown Center, outside Union Station,” said Mayor Quinton Lucas. “We can’t keep living like this.”

The rally happened within walking distance of where the parade shooting happened. The group gathered on Saturday expressed its collective frustration with local gun laws.

“Enough is enough!” chanted the crowd. “Enough is enough!”

Lucas said he hopes Kansas City can find a commonsense solution to gun violence.

“I don’t want us 20 years from now to be saying, ‘We don’t have parades anymore because of x or y thing.’ I don’t want us to be looking over our shoulders,” Lucas said. “We need to have somewhere to be, somewhere to go, somewhere to live. That’s why I think you see so many people saying, ‘Enough is enough,’ today.”

While the parade shooting was the catalyst for Saturday’s rally, it was about much more than Wednesday’s violence. Kansas City is coming off its deadliest year on record with 182 homicides. Elected leaders called for changes to the law.

“It’s commonsense gun laws,” said Manny Abarca, when asked about the changes he would like to see. “It’s the basic things we can have for protections. It’s background checks, it’s red flag laws, it’s conceal and carry permits.”

Still, the events of Wednesday remain at the forefront of Kansas City’s mind. Lucas expressed faith in the legal process, but also said Wednesday might have looked different had different laws been in place.

“I believe the assailants will be brought to justice,” Lucas said. “I also believe two dozen people wouldn’t have gotten hit if you didn’t have the capacity of firearms that we had here the other day.”

“Unfortunately, that was very legal what that kid did. The kid had access to such large firearms, and it’s not illegal in our state to do that,” Abarca said.

After a tough week in Kansas City, one mother told KCTV5 it was important for her to be there – as a show of solidarity with the city.

“I think it’s heartwarming just to see everyone come out and say, ‘This matters to us. Let’s make some better choices and maybe fix this as much as we possibly can,” said Sarah Pope.

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