Some of the nurses, surgeons and doctors heroically treating victims at Del Sol and University Medical Center in El Paso told me they hadn’t seen such horrific wounds since they were deployed abroad in our armed forces, saving the lives of soldiers on the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq.

When the killer’s mother heard he had ordered an “AK”-type firearm, she wondered why her son, who was not enlisted in the military, needed a weapon like that. She was asking on behalf of herself, on behalf of her son, and on behalf of our country.

That’s why, as president, I would institute a mandatory buyback of every assault weapon in America.

Some believe that our country is too divided to bring about this kind of change, and in a country where politicians are beholden to the National Rifle Association, I can understand their skepticism. But I also believe that — following the lead of the moms demanding action and the students marching for their lives and for all of ours — we can end this epidemic.