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Family and friends gather in December 2012 for the memorial service for Northeast Portland resident Cindy Yuille, one of two victims of the Clackamas Town Center shooting Dec. 11.

(Bruce Ely/The Oregonian)

By Jenna Passalacqua

Until a year ago, I never had a reason to think much about gun violence. Gun violence happened in the movies or on TV, but it had never affected me personally.

Like most kids, I imagined my mom there for my life’s big moments — calling to congratulate me on a new job, spending holidays together and maybe someday standing by me at my wedding.

That changed on Dec. 11, 2012, when my mom, Cindy Yuille, was murdered in the Clackamas Town Center shooting.

My mom raised me to love the outdoors and felt happiest out in nature. She was a hospice nurse, giving love and energy to families who were losing loved ones before their eyes. People loved her kindness, warmth and generosity.

After she was killed, our mailbox flooded with hundreds of cards from people whose lives she had made better. Over 500 people came to honor her at her memorial service.

In the United States we are free and proud to speak our minds, go where we please and own guns if we want. Until my mom was murdered, I didn’t think twice about feeling safe in a mall, school or movie theater.

But in 365 days, I’ve become a different person. I’m driven to take action. Gun violence left a gaping hole in my family, tore apart our community and showed us we aren’t immune. I’m working with Oregon Alliance to Prevent Gun Violence and Mayors Against Illegal Guns to combat gun violence because while no single solution will prevent all massacres, we can still prevent more families from experiencing this grief.

While Oregon already requires background checks on guns bought from dealers or at gun shows, private gun sales create a dangerous loophole that caters to criminals, the seriously mentally ill, and other dangerous individuals. Background checks help prevent those people from getting guns — and they’re supported by 81 percent of Oregonians.

Legislation in Congress would close this loophole: The Senate’s bipartisan Manchin-Toomey amendment and the House’s bi-partisan King-Thompson bill. The Senate legislation failed last April, but I’m proud both of our senators supported background checks — and I was encouraged to hear words of support from Rep. Kurt Schrader.

In Oregon, the 2013 state Senate failed to take up a single bill to make communities safer from gun violence. In 2014, the Legislature is poised to vote on legislation that would require a background check every time a gun is sold. Our leaders must take this simple, effective, and overwhelmingly supported step to reduce gun violence in Oregon.

We must keep fighting. Each day, 33 Americans are murdered with guns. When another mass shooting occurs, we’ll wonder why we’ve still done nothing to prevent it.

To mark one year since the Clackamas shooting — and the day I lost my mom — please join me in urging our elected officials to vote for life-saving background checks. If we make our voices heard, maybe they’ll stand up for us the next time they vote on this crucial public safety issue.

Jenna Passalacqua's mother, Cindy Yuille, was killed last year in the Clackamas Town Center.