This heartache is unique to U.S.

FOR THE 85th time since the day my life changed forever, I woke up Monday to news of a mass shooting. The enormity of the numbers around the shooting in Las Vegas make this one stand out. But the wall-to-wall news coverage, the “thoughts and prayers” offered up by elected officials and the graphic, tear-filled descriptions of the shooting and aftermath by survivors were all eerily reminiscent of the days following the massacre at the Sandy Hook School.

I remember those days so clearly because I was one of three staffers in the school library that day. I remember hearing the sound of gunfire and calling 911. Knowing we had to move quickly, we barricaded 18 elementary schoolers in a closet. Every one of those 18 kids lived.

I was thinking about those kids, and the sound of those gunshots, when I heard Las Vegas Undersheriff Kevin McMahill tell CNN that the SWAT team responding to the shooting in Nevada found the shooter by listening to where the gunshots were coming from.

In a highly chaotic scene, with gunshots coming from one small hole on an open-faced expanse of thousands of windows, high above the Strip, being able to hear those gunshots helped first responders recognize the shooter’s location and likely end the incident before he could hurt even more people.

My heart is broken for the victims and families in Las Vegas. Too many are waking up without a friend, a mother or father, a brother or sister, because of senseless gun violence. This is a uniquely American feeling — the U.S. gun homicide rate is over 25 times higher than the average of other developed nations. And tragedies like this are a reminder of the gaping holes in our laws that allow convicted felons, domestic abusers and people with dangerous mental illnesses easy access to guns.

But instead of working to close these loopholes and save lives, the gun lobby is pushing Congress to further gut our nation’s gun laws. The SHARE Act, which could be put up for a vote in the House this very week, would weaken the laws that cover gun silencers.

This tragedy, as well as the one I lived through, could have been so much worse if concertgoers and first responders hadn’t been able to recognize the sound of gunshots, or determine which direction they were coming from.

Can you imagine a nearly silent gunman walking the halls of an elementary school? It’s a testament to the power of the National Rifle Association and its lobbyists that some members of Congress still want to push the SHARE Act just days after the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.

Americans should be able to go to concerts — or movie theaters, elementary schools, churches and nightclubs — free from the threat of senseless gun violence. We don’t have to live like this. Our thoughts and prayers won’t fix this. We must demand action from our representatives to end gun violence. They can start this week.