I’m angry with the leadership of the NRA who always want to characterize this as if it’s a lone madman. That it’s an act of nature we have to tolerate. I am angered by how they have worked to normalize this. I understand this is a complicated problem. I have friends who are in the NRA. I grew up on a farm. I hunted. I killed animals. I understand guns. But assault rifles and semiautomatic weapons? There is no need for those except in war.
— Richard Martinez, the father of Isla Vista shooting victim Chris Martinez, issuing a powerful call to action following the preventable death of his son and a half dozen other people, including the gunman Elliot Rodger. Richard’s son Chris was a student at the University of California Santa Barbara.