Victims of gun violence say Trump rally shooting could be ‘a catalyst moment’

Mass shooting victims hope near-killing of Republican party leader will push lawmakers to pass gun policies

The assassination attempt on Donald Trump has put the former president in a category that hundreds of other Americans have been forced into in recent decades: the victim of a high-profile mass shooting.

For those who've been at the scene of public shootings or lived through the media whirlwind that followed a loved one's death to mass violence, the past week has felt like a rinse and repeat" of more than a decade of this type of violence, said Christian Heyne, the chief officer of policy and programs at Brady, a gun violence prevention organization named after the former White House press secretary Jim Brady, who was shot in the head during an assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan in 1981.