The extreme government overreach being experienced by ICE’s violent & deadly actions has shown the left why the 2nd Amendment exists. The continued school shootings and needless gun violence across the county shows us why we need reasonable limitations and safety measures. Like with the 1st Amendment - yelling fire in a crowded theater when there is no fire is not protected speech for the safety of the public. The same is true for the 2nd Amendment. We must have a conversation about what those limitations are so kids can go to school without fear again. 

Gun violence also costs the United States an estimated $557 billion annually. This massive economic burden includes direct costs like emergency medical care and law enforcement, as well as indirect costs such as lost income, productivity, and, most significantly, the long-term pain and suffering of survivors and families. 

Just some of the sobering facts in the U.S. I want to work towards changing:

• In 2023, 58% of all gun deaths, were suicides, reaching a record high for the third straight year. 

• The firearm homicide rate in the U.S. is 25 times higher than other wealthy nations.

• Firearms surpassed motor vehicle accidents in 2020 and has since been the leading cause of death for children (1-19yr) in the U.S. 

• Firearms are the weapons used most often in domestic violence against women.

• There have been more than 160 school shootings since 2020 and mass shootings now are so common that 20% of Americans have had one occur in their community. 
  

To crawl our way out of this catastrophic epidemic, I plan to do the following while in Congress:

• I will push for federally-funded free mental health services, which would be included in Medicare for All. I have had friends take their own lives with guns and knowing they were struggling without any option for help made the news of their passing all the more depressing. 

• I will co-sponsor Ethan’s Law, which is a federal version of Illinois’ Storage Mandate requiring firearms to be kept in a locked container to protect children. This is an easy choice to require everyone to safely store their weapons in order to reduce accidental gun deaths. 

• We need to ban ghost guns and work to strictly regulate 3d printed designs that are used to create the ghost guns in the first place. As a software engineer with technical expertise I would lead the way on developing regulations for ghost guns. 

• We need to reinstate the Assault Weapons federal ban. The ten-year long federal ban that was once in place reduced the risk of people dying in a mass shooting by 70%..

• We must pass universal background checks with waiting periods. Waiting periods are important to prevent rage induced individuals who don’t own a gun from buying one in the moment of highest emotion. 

• In Illinois, Karina’s Law passed recently is an important victim’s rights mandate requiring the immediate removal of firearms from abusers. On the federal level, I will push for federal Red Flag/Extreme Risk laws. 

• I will push for Public Funded Elections. If we had public funded elections, PACs like the NRA and state rifle associations would be prohibited from bribing politicians.