By Jenna Yuille

On average, 86 people are killed by guns each day in America. When I saw the news on social media of a shooting at the Clackamas Town Center, I had no idea on that December day that my mom, Cindy, would become one of them. She was never a mall person, but she had gone to run a few errands and do some last-minute Christmas shopping.

I was completely shocked and devastated. My mom was a wonderful person. She was an incredibly kind and compassionate woman, and someone you loved to be around. She was light-hearted and down-to-earth. She was a nurse by profession and always took care of those around her.

Jenna Yuille

She was also never one to be silenced when she saw an injustice. If I was the one who had been killed that day at the Clackamas Town Center, I know she would be doing everything in her power to help change things — so that no other family would have to go through what we did. I am at a loss for how to express what it truly feels like to lose a loved one — and to such a senseless act of gun violence.

Gun violence is a serious problem, but there are common sense solutions to prevent gun violence that do not infringe on the rights of law-abiding gun owners. Our representatives have a responsibility to act, and to prevent the gun violence that has destroyed the lives of too Americans. If they won't, it's time to find new leaders who will.

Despite the senseless murder of my mom, despite the shooting at Reynolds High School that occurred this summer, and despite the incidents of gun violence that happen every day in our state that don't even make the headlines, Oregon lawmakers have failed to fix even the most obvious of problems in our state gun laws. For that reason, it is incredibly important that we elect leaders who are committed to solving this issue.

There is no single change or law that will eliminate every act of gun violence, but there are proven, common sense measures we can take to protect our families and make our communities safer. For example, here in Oregon, we don't require criminal background checks for all gun sales like those that happen online. Dangerous and/or violent convicted criminals easily exploit this loophole to buy guns from strangers online — anonymously, and with no questions asked.

We know this because of stories like Monique Williams, a 29-year-old nurse from our neighboring Washington state who was killed by her boyfriend, who purchased a gun from an unlicensed seller on Craigslist after he was denied a gun from a licensed dealer after a background check revealed a domestic violence assault conviction.

Loopholes in this background check system failed Monique, and she is not the only one. In fact, research by Everytown for Gun Safety has found that in some states as many as one in every 10 people seeking to buy a gun from a private seller online are prohibited, meaning they are convicted rapists, domestic abusers and people who have assaulted police officers.

The same loopholes in Washington State law allow dangerous people like Monique's killer to get guns here in Oregon.

I have personally appealed to our state legislators to fix this problem, but they have refused to take action. Worse, some politicians in Salem, like Sen. Bruce Starr, R-Hillsboro, see stopping a fix to this critical flaw in our criminal background check system as an opportunity to raise money for their re-election campaigns.

When I first got involved in this movement to reduce gun violence, I was told that it would take some time to make any changes. Well, time has certainly passed.

In the months since my mom was murdered, I have gone from having my first job out of college to the beginning of my career. I turned 24... and 25. I climbed South Sister and ran my first half marathon. I'm about to move out of the apartment my mom helped me move into, to a new place that will be the very first time I've ever lived alone. My mom has missed these little milestones in my life because of a senseless, preventable act of gun violence.

We have waited long enough for our Oregon lawmakers, like Bruce Starr, to take the gun violence problem seriously. Until they do, what happened to me and my family is only going to happen again... and again, until our leaders make changes. This November, I hope you'll join me in casting your vote for candidates that we can trust to put public safety ahead of the gun lobby.

Jenna Yuille, of North Portland, co-founded the Oregon-based group Gun Owners for Responsible Ownership and volunteers with Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonpartisan organization working to mobilize 1 million voters to vote on gun safety this year. More information: gunsensevoter.org.