For Patrick Korellis, the deadly shooting at a Florida high school brings back not just memories, but a desire for a change.
Korellis was shot in the back of his head and his arm 10 years ago when a guman fired on his classroom at Northern Illinois University.
“Didn’t say a word, took out his shotgun and started shooting at us,” he said. “I felt something hit me in the head. I had blood coming down my head. Then another gunshot. I saw blood and a big welt on my arm.”
Korellis was able to escape as the shooter paused to reload.
“If he had one of those weapons the Vegas shooter had or the Parkland shooter, I don’t think I’d be here today,” he said.
Korellis joined Sen. Dick Durbin and other gun control advocates Wednesday at the MLK Center on Chicago’s South Side as they called on voters to put the pressure on lawmakers to act on gun reforms.
“The only way Congress will do something about it is when the voters do something about it,” Durbin said.
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Durbin is calling for legislation that bans bump stocks and assault weapons, prevents those with mental illness from purchasing guns and closes the gap in the background check system.
As a grieving Florida community demanded action on guns, President Donald Trump on Tuesday directed the Justice Department to move to ban devices like the rapid-fire bump stocks used in last year's Las Vegas massacre.
It was a small sign of movement on the gun violence issue that has long tied Washington in knots.
"We must do more to protect our children," Trump said, adding that his administration was working hard to respond to the shooting in Parkland that left 17 dead.
After past mass killings yielded little action on tighter gun controls, the White House is trying to demonstrate that it is taking the issue seriously.
The president, a strong and vocal supporter of gun rights, has not endorsed more robust changes sought by gun control activists. But the White House cast the president in recent days as having been swayed by the school shooting in Florida and willing to listen to proposals.
Still, Durbin said Trump’s plan falls short.
“The 17 lives that were lost in Parkland are worth more than what the president is proposing,” he said.
Survivors of the Florida school shooting descended on the state's Capitol on Wednesday and had one overarching message: It's time for action.
They were joined in solidarity by students who staged walkouts at numerous Chicago-area schools, including Schaumburg and Oak Park River Forest High School.
The students received attention and a warm reception, but politicians did not offer specific answers. The students' biggest wish — banning assault-type weapons such as the AR-15, the weapon used by suspect Nikolas Cruz — was taken off the table the previous day in the House.
Olympic athletes were also speaking out in favour of gun control after competing in the biathlon events in Pyeongchang.
“I support an assault weapons ban,” Four-time Olympian Lowell Bailey told reporters at the Olympics, The Washington Post reported. “I really do. Our country needs to wake up. Our country needs to change. There’s just no excuse. I compete against all of these other World Cup nations — Germany, Norway. How good are they on the range? They’re great at rifle marksmanship. Do you know how strict their gun controls law are? It’s a travesty America hasn’t changed and continues to go down this path. It just makes me want to cry.”
For Korellis, it’s important to get people out to vote on the matter.
“The more I want to help, the more I want to speak out,” he said. “Enough is enough.”
