In the immediate aftermath of last year’s mass shooting at Highland Park’s Fourth of July parade came the expected questions when such a tragedy unfolds: Who was the gunman? Where had his weapon come from?

       And in Illinois, a state run by gun control-minded Democrats, could laws be bolstered and were police using them as effectively as possible?

       Advertisement

       Experts have suggested what was on the books — if properly understood and implemented — potentially could have prevented the alleged shooter from obtaining the high-powered semi-automatic rifle used to rain bullets down on paradegoers, killing seven and wounding dozens more.