Case Date:

7/6/2016

To Whom it May Concern at the Office of the Mayor: Hello! My name is Aubrey Seader, and I'm a resident of Bloomington (living in the two-mile fringe on the south side). Recently my family and I were involved in and attended the annual 4th of July parade in downtown Bloomington. The parade was mostly really great! It's great to see so many people and organizations that are a part of my community, that I don't normally get to interact with. There was one float in the parade, however, that made myself and many of my friends and family very nervous and very angry. The float consisted of two vehicles - both Jeeps I think - carrying men holding up or displaying in some way automatic rifles. Machine guns. Men and women walked beside the cars displaying side arms, and other large guns. One man held up over his head a laminated copy of the constitution. As offensive and sickening as this display was - just weeks after the attack on Pulse nightclub that killed 40 people - I realize it was completely legal and that the city is not permitted to refuse entry to the parade to any group if what they are doing follows the letter of the law. I'm not even sure if the mayor's office has anything to do with city events like the parade. I just wanted to write to someone and say that seeing this float was terrifying. These people not only had multiple automatic weapons... these weapons were clearly loaded. I could see the clips and rounds attached to them. And families, children, all of us just had to hold our breath and watch as they passed. Gun violence has traumatized the US for years now, as we've seen our own president give 16 condolence speeches following mass shootings .. just within the past FOUR YEARS. I remember the day I heard about the shooting at Sandy Hook. All the breath just fell out of me and I'm still not quite able to get past the knowledge that after the horrifying deaths of dozens of elementary-aged children, America did nothing to enact stricter, common sense gun safety laws. In my mind, the way this 4th of July float, in our City of Bloomington parade, made light of this grief, this trauma we all sit with everyday, could be compared to a float making light of the events of September 11th. There has to be some way we can at least prevent people from bringing loaded assault weapons to public events. Perhaps they can be allowed to bring the mechanical part of the gun, but we have to make sure they leave all their amo at home. I'm sad that we can't remove guns from public places the way we've banned smoking within so many feet of local businesses and public buildings. But for now, can we work on requiring parade participants to leave their assault rifle amo at home? I can't imagine the fear struck in the hearts of every parent in that crowd on Monday. Those people that made that float should be ashamed of themselves. Thank you for reading this. If there's anyone at the city you can suggest I speak to about this matter, I'd love to get their contact information! Thanks for all the great work you do! Best, Aubrey Seader