Beto O'Rourke: Here's how I'd stop gun violence

Eight students and two teachers were murdered in their classrooms after a gunman opened fire at Santa Fe High School one year ago this week. Thirteen others were wounded. It forever changed their lives, the school, and that community.

In the days that followed, I traveled to meet with students who survived the shooting and parents who had tragically lost their children. I had the opportunity to listen, to learn, and to commit to following their lead in doing everything we can to end the epidemic of gun violence.

That meeting along the water in Galveston is where I met Rhonda, whose daughter Kimberly was killed in her art class. Rhonda gave me a photo of Kimberly that I've kept in my wallet ever since — as a reminder of her family and also of the urgency necessary to ensure no parent has to worry about sending their child to school and wondering whether they’ll make it back.

But in the year since the Santa Fe shooting, far too many more school shootings have occurred — most recently in Highlands Ranch, where a brave young man named Kendrick Castillo died rushing toward the gunmen, saving the lives of others in his classroom. It was not unlike the sacrifice made by Riley Howell at UNC Charlotte the week before. These tragedies followed other shootings in synagogues and churches, malls and movie theaters, nightclubs and newsrooms.

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