MILWAUKEE— Many in the Milwaukee area came out to Walker’s Square Park to pray for victims of gun violence on Friday night.

Every time a mass shooting like the ones in Uvalde and Buffalo grabs the headlines, it takes Pardeep Singh Kaleka back to when his father was killed in a mass shooting by a white supremacist at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin 10 years ago.

“With him, I miss his sense of humor and just his sensibility, his leadership. He was the temple president for 15 years and I think now we have a community that is up into the 1,000s and that was always a dream of his,” said Kaleka.

Kaleka said it hurts him that gun violence continues to take place all over the country.  

“It affects us personally. It affects us as a small community but it also inspires us and it inspires with the urgency to do what we need to do to makes sure this doesn’t happen again to anybody,” said Kaleka.  

Darryl Morin is the president of Forward Latino and a member of the 80% Coalition, the organization spearheading the victims of gun violence vigil in Milwaukee. Kaleka will also be a part of it.  

Morin said the message of this vigil is simple: Pray and Act. Morin said he believes the only way to honor the memories of those lost to gun violence is to enact “common sense gun laws.”  

“Over 80% of Republicans and Democrats alike, right here in our own state of Wisconsin, agree on the need to close the background check loophole so violent felons can’t continue to buy firearms or that police or family members who know of individuals suffering from mental illness so they will have a legal method by which to remove a firearm temporarily,” said Kaleka.

The name, “80% Coalition,” was inspired by a Marquette University Law School poll asking about gun laws.

Kaleka said it’s been disappointing that these reforms haven’t already happened.

“Buffalo was preventable; Texas was preventable; Oak Creek was preventable. Each one of these shootings that happens, like it or not, is preventable and all of us have to take accountability on what we haven’t done to make sure that happens,” said Kaleka.  

Kaleka said that’s why he will continue to call for change.