Politicians and gun control activists gathered early on the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago Monday to highlight violence on the South and West sides, remember the Highland Park shooting and continue their push for local and federal gun control legislation.
Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords — the victim of an assassination attempt in 2011 — gave remarks at the event at the Carnivale restaurant in the West Loop. So did Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, who was a representative there during the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012. They were joined by a host of state and city politicians and local activists.
Giffords set the tone by describing her personal experience with gun violence, which later prompted her to found the nonprofit GIFFORDS in the wake of Sandy Hook.
“Our lives can change so quickly,” Giffords said. “Mine did when I was shot. I’m relearning so many things: how to walk, how to talk, and I’m fighting to make the country safer.”
The group of speakers touted the passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act in 2022, a federal bill that strengthened background check requirements, established community violence intervention programs and more. But they said more is needed at the national level.
However, gun violence in the city of Chicago soon took the focus.
State Rep. Bob Morgan — whose district includes Highland Park, location of the 2022 Fourth of July parade shooting — and Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering spoke about the recent memory of violence in their communities.
“Highland Park experienced something that happened once in a generation, and it was, I promise you, horrific,” Morgan said. “There are communities in the state of Illinois that you’ve heard about here today and others you haven’t that deal with gun violence every single day, every 24 hours.”
State Sen. Celina Villanueva — who represents swaths of the West side — pointed to an example: Karina Gonzalez, a woman from Little Village who was shot and killed along with her daughter by her husband in 2023, despite Gonzalez having obtained an order of protection against him.
Villanueva told the Tribune a recent wave of violence in the city has hit her district particularly hard, though she remains hopeful that local organizing will continue to help reduce violence in her community.
“While we have actually seen decreases in violence in Little Village over the past few years, this summer has been different because of a lot of issues that are happening globally,” Villanueva said, pointing to the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Monday’s event comes in the wake of a sweeping gun ban passed in Illinois in January 2023, six months after the Highland Park shooting. The state ban on high-powered guns and high-capacity magazines was upheld in court, but is still being challenged.
The event, held in the early hours of the DNC’s first day, kicks off a week that has seen the nation spotlight on safety in Chicago. With all eyes on the city, local officials have insisted that they’re prepared for whatever comes.
But as local issues took the focus, the group of Democratic legislators and activists were on the defensive against criticism from the other side of the aisle about crime and public safety in Chicago.
U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Matteson, decried the flow of illegal guns from neighboring states into Illinois, and spoke to the role of community violence prevention organizations in addressing gun violence.
“Republicans like to point their fingers at Chicago and claim gun safety laws don’t work,” Kelly said on Monday. She described how the majority of gun violence takes place in just a handful of neighborhoods across Chicago. “But Republicans don’t know this city.”
