NIU Father Pushes for National Victim Fund

The father of a Northern Illinois University student who was killed in a 2008 campus shooting is one of dozens of people working to convince the federal government to create a National Compassion Fund.

Eric Mace tells The (DeKalb) Daily Chronicle that the account would allocate money directly to victims of mass shootings, instead of to charities that use some of the money for administrative costs, grants, memorials and larger community needs.

The proposal is backed by 64 families who were affected by shootings in Sandy Hook and Columbine as well as the World Trade Center attacks and other tragedies.

Mace's 19-year-old daughter Ryanne was one of five people who died in the Valentine's Day attack at the DeKalb university.