Overall, our campaign believes in a middle-ground solution in the Illinois gun debate. Gun legislation has become one of the most “hot button” issues in America today. We believe that we can come together to form solutions that will both protect our citizens as well as provide access to guns for responsible gun owners.
Gun ownership is not for everyone. But we have thousands of people who are gun owners in Illinois — 99.9 percent of whom obey the law. We want to see real, serious debate and action on guns, which will not take place if we simply have extreme positions on both sides.
Gun Control
We believe gun control legislation should ultimately fall on individual states, with the exception of a Federal ban on assault weapons and instant background checks to prevent firearms from finding their way into the hands of criminals and the mentally ill.
Manufacturer Liability
Gun manufacturers should not be held liable for misuse of their products, just as any other industry isn’t held accountable for how end-consumers use their products.
Improve Mental Health
Gun control is not the only solution to curbing the epidemic of gun violence. There must be other efforts to assist those with mental health issues in order to prevent suicides by firearms or mass shootings at public places.
Take On The NRA
The National Rifle Association (NRA) is a powerful lobbying group with too much influence over gun legislation. Josh wants to take on the NRA and limit their political influence so we can pass meaningful gun reforms.
Gun Control
Attitudes and actions with regards to firearms differ greatly between rural and urban communities. Nevertheless, we believe there are situations where the government should intervene. We are in favor of requiring background checks to prevent firearms from getting into the hands of violent felons and the mentally ill, passing a ban on military style assault weapons and high capacity magazines over 10 rounds. We believe in a solution which promotes gun rights for those who wish to possess them while also ensuring their safe and secure use so that they cannot be used to harm fellow human beings.
What about bump stocks?
When a standard gunstock is replaced with a bump stock, a semiautomatic firearm can fire more quickly. The Route 91 Harvest Music Festival shooter used a bump stock. This tragic mass shooting resulted in fifty-eight deaths and hundreds of injuries. We support the ban on bump stocks, noting that they provide an effective workaround to convert a legal weapon into an illegal one. Bump stocks were banned on March 29, 2019
How should we address mass shootings and other gun-related violence?
We have a crisis in addressing mental health issues in Illinois and all across this country. We support and need strong sensible gun control. However, some think this alone will solve all of our problems, and it will not. When people are hurting and are prepared to do something terrible, they need immediate mental health support which is free at the point of service. To be frank, this is necessary as a preventative measure as well.
Given that 23 percent of the perpetrators of mass shootings have been found to suffer from mental health issues, we believe expanding mental healthcare which is free at the point of service, can address some of the root causes of gun-related violent crime. The national Medicare For All legislation, which we support, includes Mental Healthcare, free at the point of service, for ALL Americans.
The Second Amendment is highly valued in the United States Constitution because it gives all American citizens the right to bear arms. At the time of its inception in 1790, only muskets and bayonets existed. However, partly due to the Industrial Revolution, American Civil War and World War I, gun manufacturers stimulated production of handmade assault weapons and more powerful handguns and pistols with the only purpose of killing enemy soldiers with more accuracy and a higher concentration of bullets.
Just as if you said, “I’m going to blow up this building!” using an assault rifle or any other gun to murder innocent and defenseless citizens goes into a constitutional argument for gun control: the responsibility of the person to use the gun properly, just like having to use your words responsibly even with freedom of speech. So, in theory, unlike claims by the Republican Senate Majority Leader and his colleagues that the Democrats want to take away your guns, any responsible gun owner that follows the law would still retain their guns, regardless of the implementation of background checks. That’s why we support these gun control measures to curb the gun violence epidemic.
Manufacturer Liability
Manufacturers and sellers of firearms should not be held accountable for the misuse of their products, as long as the gun manufacturer and gun sale owner were not illegally responsible for handing their products to those with mental health issues, those on the terror watch list, or others that should not have guns in the first place.
If somebody has a gun and it falls into the hands of a murderer, and that murderer kills somebody with the gun, do you hold the gun manufacturer responsible? Not anymore than you would hold a hammer company responsible if somebody beat somebody over the head with a hammer. In other words, the instrument itself cannot be held responsible for it being misused by the individual.
Mental Health
We believe that everyone has a right to adequate mental healthcare. How does mental health relate to gun violence? Although only a very small amount of gun violence is caused by mental health issues, guns play a disproportionately high role in suicides.
Studies show that one way to reduce the number of gun-related suicides is to work with mental health professionals on productive solutions. Mental healthcare is as important, if not more important, than physical healthcare in order to save the lives of others and not just the lives of individuals with mental health issues.
Does Medicare For All include mental healthcare?
Yes, the Medicare For All plan we support includes mental health services. More specifically, Medicare For All includes increased funding of the National Health Service Corps, as well as expanding Community Health Centers, both in rural and urban communities to organize their resources and effectively combat mental illness.
Take On The NRA
The NRA is the largest pro-gun lobby in the United States. Politicians and their staffers consider the NRA to be one of the most powerful lobbying groups in the country.
Why do we need to take on the NRA?
There are two major reasons why we want to take on the NRA. First, we want to eliminate the overall influence big money has in politics. Second, the NRA uses their lobbying power to oppose the common sense gun reform that Illinois citizens support.
For example, the NRA opposes an assault weapons ban, opposed the ban on bump stocks, and opposes an expansion of background checks.
Gun ownership is not for everyone. But we have thousands of people who are gun owners in Illinois — 99.9 percent of whom obey the law. We want to see real, serious debate and action on guns, which will not take place if we simply have extreme positions on both sides.
Gun Control
We believe gun control legislation should ultimately fall on individual states, with the exception of a Federal ban on assault weapons and instant background checks to prevent firearms from finding their way into the hands of criminals and the mentally ill.
Manufacturer Liability
Gun manufacturers should not be held liable for misuse of their products, just as any other industry isn’t held accountable for how end-consumers use their products.
Improve Mental Health
Gun control is not the only solution to curbing the epidemic of gun violence. There must be other efforts to assist those with mental health issues in order to prevent suicides by firearms or mass shootings at public places.
Take On The NRA
The National Rifle Association (NRA) is a powerful lobbying group with too much influence over gun legislation. Josh wants to take on the NRA and limit their political influence so we can pass meaningful gun reforms.
Gun Control
Attitudes and actions with regards to firearms differ greatly between rural and urban communities. Nevertheless, we believe there are situations where the government should intervene. We are in favor of requiring background checks to prevent firearms from getting into the hands of violent felons and the mentally ill, passing a ban on military style assault weapons and high capacity magazines over 10 rounds. We believe in a solution which promotes gun rights for those who wish to possess them while also ensuring their safe and secure use so that they cannot be used to harm fellow human beings.
What about bump stocks?
When a standard gunstock is replaced with a bump stock, a semiautomatic firearm can fire more quickly. The Route 91 Harvest Music Festival shooter used a bump stock. This tragic mass shooting resulted in fifty-eight deaths and hundreds of injuries. We support the ban on bump stocks, noting that they provide an effective workaround to convert a legal weapon into an illegal one. Bump stocks were banned on March 29, 2019
How should we address mass shootings and other gun-related violence?
We have a crisis in addressing mental health issues in Illinois and all across this country. We support and need strong sensible gun control. However, some think this alone will solve all of our problems, and it will not. When people are hurting and are prepared to do something terrible, they need immediate mental health support which is free at the point of service. To be frank, this is necessary as a preventative measure as well.
Given that 23 percent of the perpetrators of mass shootings have been found to suffer from mental health issues, we believe expanding mental healthcare which is free at the point of service, can address some of the root causes of gun-related violent crime. The national Medicare For All legislation, which we support, includes Mental Healthcare, free at the point of service, for ALL Americans.
The Second Amendment is highly valued in the United States Constitution because it gives all American citizens the right to bear arms. At the time of its inception in 1790, only muskets and bayonets existed. However, partly due to the Industrial Revolution, American Civil War and World War I, gun manufacturers stimulated production of handmade assault weapons and more powerful handguns and pistols with the only purpose of killing enemy soldiers with more accuracy and a higher concentration of bullets.
Just as if you said, “I’m going to blow up this building!” using an assault rifle or any other gun to murder innocent and defenseless citizens goes into a constitutional argument for gun control: the responsibility of the person to use the gun properly, just like having to use your words responsibly even with freedom of speech. So, in theory, unlike claims by the Republican Senate Majority Leader and his colleagues that the Democrats want to take away your guns, any responsible gun owner that follows the law would still retain their guns, regardless of the implementation of background checks. That’s why we support these gun control measures to curb the gun violence epidemic.
Manufacturer Liability
Manufacturers and sellers of firearms should not be held accountable for the misuse of their products, as long as the gun manufacturer and gun sale owner were not illegally responsible for handing their products to those with mental health issues, those on the terror watch list, or others that should not have guns in the first place.
If somebody has a gun and it falls into the hands of a murderer, and that murderer kills somebody with the gun, do you hold the gun manufacturer responsible? Not anymore than you would hold a hammer company responsible if somebody beat somebody over the head with a hammer. In other words, the instrument itself cannot be held responsible for it being misused by the individual.
Mental Health
We believe that everyone has a right to adequate mental healthcare. How does mental health relate to gun violence? Although only a very small amount of gun violence is caused by mental health issues, guns play a disproportionately high role in suicides.
Studies show that one way to reduce the number of gun-related suicides is to work with mental health professionals on productive solutions. Mental healthcare is as important, if not more important, than physical healthcare in order to save the lives of others and not just the lives of individuals with mental health issues.
Does Medicare For All include mental healthcare?
Yes, the Medicare For All plan we support includes mental health services. More specifically, Medicare For All includes increased funding of the National Health Service Corps, as well as expanding Community Health Centers, both in rural and urban communities to organize their resources and effectively combat mental illness.
Take On The NRA
The NRA is the largest pro-gun lobby in the United States. Politicians and their staffers consider the NRA to be one of the most powerful lobbying groups in the country.
Why do we need to take on the NRA?
There are two major reasons why we want to take on the NRA. First, we want to eliminate the overall influence big money has in politics. Second, the NRA uses their lobbying power to oppose the common sense gun reform that Illinois citizens support.
For example, the NRA opposes an assault weapons ban, opposed the ban on bump stocks, and opposes an expansion of background checks.