Clendaniel: Sandy Hook, Orlando, Las Vegas, Parkland — now Gilroy

Trying to make sense of it: Who randomly kills a 6-year-old boy? Who decides to make a mass shooting his life legacy?

I was at the Gilroy Garlic Festival for four hours on Saturday with my wife, my daughter and her boyfriend.

We spent most of our time at the northern end of the park, sampling the garlic-laden food, taking in a bit of a cooking show and exploring the various booths.

That’s right: If the shooter who killed three and injured 12 on Sunday had chosen to come to the park a day earlier, we could have been in the middle of the tragedy.

Like many of you, I spent the night trying to make sense of it all. I found that impossible because it’s such a senseless act.

Who turns a rifle on a crowd of people? Who randomly kills a 6-year-old boy? Who decides to make a mass shooting his life legacy? What would have happened if we had been there?

I thought about security as we entered the festival on Saturday. There were guards with metal-detecting wands checking people before they entered. One examined my wife’s bag and asked me if I had any knives or sharp objects.

But he didn’t use a wand to verify that I wasn’t carrying a weapon. He took my word for it.

I remember being troubled by that. But I also recall thinking that anyone who wants to do anyone real harm will likely find a way to elude security precautions.

Gilroy Police Chief Scot Smithee said Sunday night that’s exactly what happened. The 19-year-old shooter, identified as Santino William Legan, reportedly entered the festival by cutting a fence and crossing Uvas Creek.

We all owe the Gilroy police officers on duty a debt of gratitude for responding within a minute of the shooting and killing the gunman. My brother is a former deputy sheriff in the state of Washington, and we’ve talked about the incredible courage it takes to run toward a shooting when every bone in your body is screaming at you to do the opposite. Dozens are likely still alive today because of the Gilroy officers’ actions.

But now what?

We’ve attended the Garlic Festival every year for the past five years. We love the food. We love the family atmosphere, and we especially love that all the money goes to charity. It’s simply one of America’s great food festivals.

Will we go again? I don’t know about you, but I’m planning to attend in 2020. And I’m hoping you will, too.

I refuse to be a part of letting fear destroy an event that has raised nearly $12 million for worthy charity groups and non-profits groups that do so much good for the community.

And I plan to redouble my efforts to do something about the number of available assault weapons in California and across the country. I hope you will, too.

California already prohibits anyone from possessing an assault weapon unless he or she possessed the firearm prior to the date it was defined as an assault weapon and registered the firearm with the California Department of Justice.

But that still leaves too many assault weapons out there, in this state and across the nation. In this case, the shooter bought the gun 19 days earlier in Nevada. It’s time to address this problem on a national scale.

I’m not anti-gun. I grew up going hunting regularly with my dad, who taught me the importance of gun safety. My high school had mandatory ROTC for sophomore boys. We we were taught to disassemble and reassemble a rifle and went to the rifle range for target practice.

I have always found hunters to be among the most environmentally and safety-conscious people I know. I respect people’s right to own guns — as long as they do so in a responsible fashion.

But assault rifles are another matter. I don’t believe that our founding fathers would have advocated that people be able to own assault rifles any more than they would have sanctioned people possessing any weapon of mass destruction.

They would have been horrified at what happened in Sandy Hook, San Bernardino, Orlando, Las Vegas, Parkland — and now Gilroy.