Enough.

Last month Ger’Vontae Tilson, a 15-year-old boy, was gunned down in Providence.

On the 4th of July, seven people were killed and dozens injured by a gunman in Highland Park, Chicago.

A month before that, 19 children and two adults were gunned down in their classroom in Uvalde, Texas.

In Buffalo, just weeks before the Uvalde shooting, 10 people were killed because of their race – murdered by someone following dangerous conspiracy theories he learned on the internet, and which are regularly amplified by Republican politicians and right wing media outlets.

Children are dead, families are in mourning, and once again Republican politicians in Washington are preventing action that could prevent tragedies like these from occurring. It’s time to act to protect our communities and frankly it’s time for Congress to give a damn.

I support the second amendment, and I also support taking common sense measures to keep our communities safe. I applaud President Biden for signing the bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which expands protection for victims of domestic violence, invests in significant mental health resources in our schools and our communities, increases funding for school safety, extends background checks for anyone under 21-years-old, and provides $750 million in funding to support states’ efforts to keep weapons out of the hands of those who pose a danger to themselves and others.

While these steps are important to take on isolated gun violence incidents, it is not enough to combat the real danger facing our communities, not just from a lack of common sense gun reform, but also from radicalization at the local level. Federal intelligence and law enforcement communities have been sounding the alarm bells about domestic terrorism – particularly from online, racially-motivated conspiracies – as a top threat to security in communities nationwide for years.

I dealt with these issues at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). As Deputy Assistant Secretary at DHS during the Obama administration, I engaged with experts both inside and outside the government. My job was to bring them together; to take the best advice from national security experts and community partners to deliver practical recommendations that could prevent the radicalization and recruitment of American youth.

Our communities in Rhode Island are not immune from the threat of domestic terror and gun violence. According to data from the Anti-Defamation League, there have been over 200 cases of white supremacist propaganda disseminated in Rhode Island in the past year. Just this past week, the Boston Globe ran a piece on the rise of white-nationalism in New England. We must prevent tragedies like Buffalo or Uvalde from happening ever again -- and that means we need to tackle extremism in our neighborhoods. It also means we need common-sense gun reform, which the vast majority of Americans support, to keep Rhode Islanders safe.

While we may feel helpless as the gun violence epidemic in America harms more communities, there are warning signs and ways to interrupt the process of radicalization that can help prevent these tragedies from becoming a daily-occurrence. It is imperative that law enforcement work with mental health, social service and education providers to assist youth who are in danger of being radicalized.

During the Trump Administration, DHS downplayed the threat of white supremacy, and even disbanded the team looking at intelligence related to the threat -- and we were less safe because of it.

The House of Representatives has passed the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act, which aims to codify into law offices to address domestic terrorist threats, while also ensuring unprecedented levels of transparency and oversight to keep these offices in check. It would create training for state, local, and federal officials and create a task force to make sure safety threats do not come from law enforcement. The bill is now being blocked by Republicans in the Senate, who are afraid to debate these issues because they know they are in the wrong.

But this bill alone is not enough. The Biden Administration has called attention to the domestic terrorist threat, and the need for more funding for programs that address the root causes of these threats.

Combatting domestic terrorism and protecting our communities requires real experience, not hollow talking points. Our children should spend their days learning and growing, not hiding under their desks and practicing lockdown drills.

My heart remains with the family of Ger’Vontae Tilson, as well as the families in Chicago, Uvalde and Buffalo, who have lost pieces of themselves forever. May the memory of those lost be a blessing, and may the heartbreak of these families and their communities motivate us to act -- our safety and peace of mind depend on it.

Sarah Morgenthau is running for U.S. Congress in Rhode Island’s Second District. She served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security’s Private Sector Office during the Obama Administration, and most recently served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for National Travel and Tourism in the Biden Administration.