Thoughts and prayers? Two children were killed and at least 17 others injured when a gunman fired several rounds of bullets through the open windows of a Catholic church this morning. Thoughts and prayers have not and will not extinguish the gun lobby’s stranglehold on this country. We must stand up and pass real, comprehensive, nation-wide gun safety policies: a national assault weapon and high capacity magazine ban, and universal background checks.
Instead, we have a federal government defunding valuable and proven community violence intervention programs, and encouraging deregulation of firearms by eliminating the $200 tax stamp on suppressors, short-barreled rifles and shot guns. The steps taken by President Trump puts all of our communities at risk — we cannot stand by and watch as our federal gun safety policy buckles under the gun lobby’s pressure.
Here in Illinois we have taken the steps to keep our communities safe: from banning assault weapons and high capacity magazines in the Protect Illinois Communities Act, to keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous abusers in Karina’s Law, to mandating the safe storage of firearms when children are present in the Safe at Home Act. We are working every single day to save lives from gun violence. Make no mistake, there is more work to do. As the chair of the House Gun Violence Prevention Policy, I am committed to doing that work.
We must value our children over our guns. We must commit to creating a world in which parents can drop their children off at school, at church, at playgrounds — without fear of gunfire. My heart breaks for the families who lost their precious babies today, and for the school community whose lives will be forever changed. We will honor their lives, not with thoughts and prayers alone, but with a commitment to action and change.
Rep. Maura Hirschauer
(D-Batavia)
49th District
Springfield Office:
270-S Stratton Office Building
Springfield, IL 62706
(217) 782-1653
District Office:
946 Neltnor Blvd #104
West Chicago IL 60185