My childhood friend, Mitzi, along with the youngest of her five daughters, her husband, and her mother-in-law and father-in-law, were murdered with shotguns during a random vehicle robbery. Many years later, I still feel the horror and weight of that loss every time I visit my parents and my old neighborhood. Since the day they were killed, I’ve known that no one in America is safe from senseless gun violence. These were good, hard-working people who didn’t deserve such a terrible end. In my picture, Mitzi and I are talking at a high school reunion. She is surrounded by her four daughters and is pregnant with her fifth, who was killed with her about 15 years later.