(The Center Square) – Following the killing of at least 19 children and two adults at a Texas elementary school, gun violence is a dominant issue in the race for Illinois governor.
The issue was front and center at both Republican debates this week. Venture capitalist Jesse Sullivan, state Sen. Darren Bailey, R-Xenia, and businessman Gary Rabine squared off in one debate while Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin, former state senator Paul Schimpf, R-Waterloo, and attorney Max Solomon met for the other debate.
Bailey is in favor of getting rid of the Illinois State Police-issued Firearm Owner’s Identification, or FOID card, that’s required by anyone in Illinois wanting to own or purchase firearms or ammunition.
“We have the federal background safety check and I feel confident that that is enough and that the FOID card hinders the freedoms of second Amendment gun owners,” Bailey said.
Sullivan said toughening gun laws won’t work in stopping gun violence.
“We have the strictest gun laws in the nation here in Chicago and what is that doing for us,” Sullivan said. “I am pro Second Amendment, but I also feel like we need to look at mental health services.”
Rabine also said he thought stricter gun laws weren’t the answer, noting mass shootings and other violent crimes happen in places like Chicago that have stringent rules in place.
Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin said he believes in the Second Amendment, adding the FOID card system needs to be overhauled.
“The system is broken and definitely needs to be fixed, but we need background checks to ensure that guns don’t get into the hands of criminals and those with mental illnesses and make it harder for us to protect our residents,” Irvin said.
Schimpf said the state needs to enforce the gun laws that it has and enforce background checks.
Solomon said he has a simple solution that would curb gun violence in schools.
“I will make sure that every school in the state of Illinois has armed security guards that are going to prevent these kinds of things from happening again,” Solomon said.
The dueling debates occurred in a time when candidates typically talk about the issues in the same room. But in this case, the two different locations occurred when Bailey, Rabine and Sullivan agreed to appear on one Chicago television station, which made the offer before another station invited Irvin.
The group is running out of time to appear together. The GOP primary in Illinois is June 28. Early voting is underway.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued a statement following news of the Texas school shooting.
“Ten years ago, after 26 lives were tragically taken at Sandy Hook Elementary School, we should have said enough is enough. The federal government has had a decade to pass universal background checks, which we’ve instituted in Illinois, to protect our children and the tens of thousands of victims of gun violence across our country, but they have failed to do so,” the statement said.
