Who I am and why I am running for Congress

I am a public servant and a practicing attorney, running to represent the 7th District of Illinois in Congress to fight for the peace and prosperity our residents deserve. As a former Cook County Commissioner, I was a fierce advocate for public safety and voted NO on new taxes that would have negatively impacted our families. These decisions were not popular, but doing what is best for my community has always, and will remain, my only priority.

As a lifelong Christian, I believe that we are all brothers and sisters. As a community of many faiths and beliefs, we all share the guiding principles of social justice, which are mercy, compassion, and caring for others.

Unfortunately, violence by firearms has caused the degradation of these principles, and as your next Congressman, I will fight to reduce gun violence for all residents of the 7th Congressional district.

Fighting the scourge of gun violence

Too many lives have been lost due to those who choose the pathways to violence, many of whom are young children. I refuse to believe that we are living in the best of all worlds when 46,728 Americans were killed by firearms in 2023, or one every 11 minutes.i

The statistics are grim. Since 2020, the leading cause of death of children and adolescents in the United States is from gun violence.ii About eight-in-ten U.S. murders in 2023 involved a firearm. That was among the highest percentages since 1968, the year when the US government started to collect gun violence statistics in the wake of the assassinations of Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. and Senator Robert F. Kennedy.iii

More Americans have died from gun violence than soldiers fighting in all our nation’s wars. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is unravelling the public safety net with ever-expansive decisions that promote a domestic arms race under the guise of second amendment rights.

Gun violence includes suicide by firearms, which has reached near-record levels in the United States. 55% of all suicides in 2023 involved a gun.iv This is tragic, because suicidal impulses can be transitory. Up to 90% of people who attempt suicide and survive do not try to take their lives again. When a person uses a lethal firearm, however, the odds of survival are low.v

The costs of gun violence are staggering. For incidents involving our youth between the ages of 10 to 24, firearm homicides cost the U.S. $76 billion in 2020 alone.vi

We cannot go on like this. As your Congressman, I will pursue an eight-point program to fight the scourge of gun violence. I will:

1. Expand federal prosecution of gun crimes, including new domestic terrorism charges.

2. Increase funding for victim/witness protection program for gun violence cases.

3. Require new firearm safety features.

4. Improve collaboration between public safety, school, and mental health officials.

5. Fund Community Violence Interruption programs that work.

6. Support municipal and county gun buyback programs.

7. Reduce access to guns to prevent suicides.

8. Remember the victims of gun violence.

1. Expand federal prosecution of gun crimes, including domestic terrorism charges

Until recently, only licensed firearm dealers were permitted to sell guns. Now, due to the growth of the internet, do-it-yourself gun construction kits can be sold online to consumers. Since many of these guns lack serial numbers, they are virtually untraceable, which made them ideal weapons for committing crime.

As your Congressman, I will support strategies for criminal prosecution and civil litigation involving illegal use of “ghost guns” and 3D printed guns, which are guns constructed privately. Prosecution helps to remove ghost guns from circulation and may deter others from purchasing ghost guns. Among the prosecution strategies that can be pursued are:

• Monitoring social media platforms to detect individuals who show off guns that they are not permitted to own.

• Target the traffickers, unlicensed dealers, and purchasers who provide ghost guns for the criminal market.

• File civil lawsuits against ghost gun manufacturers.

A recent Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives (ATF) study showed that “Firearm offenders frequently report informal acquisitions of firearms from friends, family members, and street sources. Hence, most firearm offenders do not appear to obtain crime guns through direct theft. Instead, stolen firearms play an indirect role in trafficking and diversion to the underground firearm markets used by prohibited persons, juveniles, and other risky individuals seeking firearms. Given the very large scale of firearm thefts in the U.S., it seems likely that stolen firearms are a significant source of firearms to violent criminals.”

Between 2017 and 2021, more than 1 million guns were stolen from private citizens throughout the United States. Many of those guns end up in the hands of criminals. Thefts from private citizens account for nearly 96% of all firearms reported stolen from 2017 to 2021. When firearms are recovered, they tend to be recovered in the state in which they were stolen (92%).

The challenge is to prosecute all the people involved in the transmission of stolen guns. As your Congressman, I will support programs and funding for law enforcement officials to develop and maintain specialized knowledge about guns and ballistics that can inform questioning at trial, identify correct charges, and conduct special investigations. Additionally, I will work with law enforcement to enhance public awareness about gun safety measures to prevent or reduce theft from private homes and automobiles.

Lastly, I will sponsor legislation to permit prosecutors to bring federal domestic terrorism charges against individuals who shoot indiscriminately into a crowd.

2. Increase funding for victim/witness protection programs for violent gun crime cases

Regrettably, many witnesses and victims of violent gun crimes feel unprotected by the justice system. Cases are dismissed or stricken off a call by a judge because witnesses fail to show up in court. The legal system needs to acknowledge the bravery of witnesses and provide a safe, secure environment for them to participate in the process of justice.

Without witnesses, detectives cannot solve violent gun crime cases and perpetrators will get away with their crimes. This is unacceptable. As your Congressman, I will push for greater federal funding of protective victim/witness programs for violent gun crimes. Services funded will include, but are not limited to relocation, identity changes and physical security strategies.

3. Require new firearm safety features

Technology exists to prevent unauthorized persons from firing a specific gun. Known as “smart guns,” these firearms can only be used by a verified owner. There are two ways to confirm the identity of verified owners.

• Radio frequency identification (RFID) tokens, such as bracelets, watches, rings and other wearable devices. The verified owner would activate the gun based on proximity to the token.

• Biometric recognition technology. The verified owner activates the gun through a fingerprint, palm print or grip.

In effect, the technologies put a lock on the gun, which can only be opened by the verified owner. The states of Maryland, Massachusetts and New Jersey have adopted “smart gun” laws.

Another promising technology is known as “microstamping.” A unique code is stamped on the cartridge case of a gun upon firing. Law enforcement officers can then trace the cartridge back to the original firearm quickly and efficiently based on the unique code. This can lead to quicker turnaround in solving crime and apprehending an offender. The state of California has adopted “microstamping” technology to fight crime.

As your Congressman, I will work to pass laws requiring the installation of smart guns and microstamping features on firearms.

4. Improve collaboration between public safety, schools, and mental health officials

“The most consistent and powerful predictor of future violence is a history of violent behavior.” -American Psychological Association

The warning signs of violent behavior are well-known by psychologists and therapists. A young person may be a victim of child abuse or neglect or bullied and marginalized by their fellow students and peers. They may experience a particularly intense form of humiliation and shame made worse by difficulty in dealing with a stressful situation, such as the death of a sibling from violence. An older person who suffers from major depressive disorder may become agitated after a major illness or surgery. In response, young and older persons may develop violent ideation and fantasies and, if guns are easily accessible, may turn to gun violence.

It takes a community to prevent the downward spiral of an individual from spinning into a mass shooting. For this to occur, law enforcement agencies, schools, psychiatric facilities, and hospitals need to coordinate and communicate to each other about potential threats.

Usually, a local police department’s role starts after an incident has begun. Police officers are the first to respond to incidents of gun violence. They make arrests, clear the scene, and bring people to jail. In addition, police officers have a central, vital role in preventing violence from happening in the first place. They can obtain legal authority to remove a firearm from a dangerous person’s house or possession if the person is deemed a threat to the community.

For firearm removal to occur, police departments need solid, credible evidence of dangerous individual behavior. It is up to the community, including schools, psychiatric facilities, hospitals, and other public institutions to flag potentially dangerous situations.

As Congressman, I will work with local law enforcement agencies, school districts, psychiatric hospitals, and other public institutions to develop clear guidelines on how to identify the warning signs of violent behavior, when to report credible cases to law enforcement, and what steps can be taken to remove the potential harm caused by gun violence.

5. Fund Community Violence Interruption programs that work

Community Violence Interruption (CVI) programs aim to interrupt cycles of violence, mediate disputes leading to gun violence, provide support services and mobilize communities to promote peace. Usually, violence interruption strategies follow three basic steps: identifying areas that have a high risk of gun violence, engage the services of mentors to intervene and monitor ongoing disputes before violence emerges, and redirect the behavior of high-risk individuals.

The model has been successful in reducing violence in Chicago’s high-risk and surrounding communities. It has succeeded in other cities, too. For example, in Baltimore, Maryland, “most violent areas saw a 56% decrease in homicides and 34% decrease in nonfatal shootings.

As your Congressman, I will work tirelessly to ensure proper funding for community violence interruption efforts.

6. Support municipal and county gun buyback programs

Throughout the United States, and in Chicago, gun buyback programs have successfully removed deadly weapons from circulation. Under a gun buyback program, the government purchases privately-owned firearms for the purpose of reducing the number of delayed-blowback firearms on the street. Typically, the government presents a prepaid gift card to a private gun owner in exchange for a firearm. No questions are asked to encourage participation in the buyback.

To maximize the effectiveness of buybacks, multiple jurisdictions should participate in the program.

As your Congressman, I will raise awareness about and promote gun buybacks.

7. Reduce access to guns to prevent suicides

Often, it is assumed that suicidal people will use whatever means are available and/or make multiple attempts to take their own lives. The research shows otherwise; most people who die by suicide have not made an earlier attempt.

“A review of nearly 100 studies determined that 90% of people who attempted suicide and survived did not go on to die by suicide later. One is more likely to survive a suicide attempt if one does not use the most highly lethal means available to make that attempt. Firearm suicide is the suicide method with the highest case fatality rate, with over 90% of attempts resulting in death.”

We can reduce suicides by reducing access to guns for highly vulnerable people. As your Congressman, I will work with health care professionals, law enforcement, and community leaders to mandate gun safety measures, including, but not limited to:

• Relocation of household firearms away from the home,

• Promote safe storage at home if relocation is not possible, and

• Develop and implement a public service message about gun safety

8. Remember the victims of gun violence

In our time, senseless gun violence has taken the lives of thousands of individuals in Cook County. The city worker caught in the crossfire between rival gang members as she purchased a cup of coffee. The student struck by a stray bullet that pierced a CTA train window as he commuted to school. The young mother spending a night out with friends to celebrate her birthday, killed by two oblivious knuckleheads who settled their differences with guns rather than words. The suddenly unemployed father, who seeing no hope for the future, takes his life and leaves behind a shocked and grieving family. These stories are tragic and all too common. And left behind, traumatized by sudden loss, are loved ones and sorrowful communities.

Victims shall not be forgotten. The life stories of victims and their families must be told and re-told for there to be the possibility of healing. There are hundreds, if not thousands of people in Cook County who are looking for a community-wide effort to tell their stories of victimization by gun violence and promote healing. As your Congressman, I will participate in and help organize community efforts to promote healing.

More than healing is needed. My faith teaches me that a troubled person and society can be turned away from wrongdoing. In these times, our troubles are manifesting themselves through the scourge of gun violence. Within the Black community, we are suffering from a quiet genocide. We need a campaign to spread Black-on-Black love within the Black community. The love begins with us, in our house, on our block, and in our community.

Everyone must respect life. We must protest loudly and unceasingly against the low-grade civil war raging in our communities, the escalating arms race that pits people against each other, and the indifference of lawmakers to common sense gun reforms. We must turn the tide on gun violence. We can do better.

As your Congressman, I will speak out forcefully against gun violence on behalf of victims, families, and communities, as well as spread the word on Black-on-Black love.

Conclusion

In our time, the wide distribution of guns has enabled an epidemic of violence to besiege our youth and communities. As your Congressman, I will vigorously support all efforts to restore peace and stop the violence. I will work with law enforcement, prosecutors, and peacekeepers in the community to sustain a culture that affirms life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, a culture in which conflict resolution is routinized and guns are laid down to rest. And I will work diligently with health care professionals to support and restore hope to those among us who attempt to harm themselves. They need our compassion and intervention. We must provide it.

Let social justice roll down like waters. We will bend the arc of history to create a just, safer, and more compassionate world for all.

References

i. Gun Violence in the United States, John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, June 2025.

ii. Parshall, Allison, New Map Shows How Gun Deaths of Children Have Increased in States with Loose Firearm Laws, Scientific American, June 11, 2025, https://www.scientificamerican.com/

iii. Gramlich, John, What the data says about gun deaths in the US , Pew Research Center, March 5, 2025, https://www.pewresearch.org/

iv. Ibid.

v. Reducing Suicide by Firearms, American Public Health Association, November 12, 2018, https://www.apha.org/

vi. Economics of Injury and Violence Prevention, Centers for Disease Control, December 5, 2024, https://www.cdc.gov/