WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — The White House has ordered flags to be flown at half-staff to honor the victims of the deadly Fourth of July shooting in Illinois.

At least seven people were killed and dozens were injured during the parade in Highland Park.

President Joe Biden and many Democrats are renewing calls to get dangerous assault weapons off the streets. According to law enforcement, the gunman legally purchased and used an AR-15-style gun in the shooting.

Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., was at the parade when the shooting began.

“My team was just at the very beginning of the parade route,” he said. “The moment was shattered and lives destroyed.”

Schneider represents the mourning community in Washington. He said the shooting makes clear Congress must do more to keep guns out of the wrong hands.

“I support a ban on assault weapons. These are weapons of war,” he said.

On Tuesday, the White House echoed that call.

“We need to make sure that we ban assault weapons. That’s one of the things that’s being reported that this suspect had,” said Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary.

But the majority of Republican lawmakers argue gun control is still not the answer.

“Restricting the freedom of law-abiding Americans will never, ever make us safer,” Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., said in a tweet on Tuesday.

Boebert is one of dozens of Republicans who voted against the compromise gun safety bill that Biden signed into law last month.

“It was an important first step,” Jean-Pierre said.

The president says he doesn’t know if he’ll visit the shooting site.