For Representative Brad Schneider, the fight to end gun violence is deeply personal on multiple fronts. First, Representative Schneider carries the responsibility of being named after his great uncle, who was murdered by a gunman before the congressman’s birth—and in serving his community, Representative Schneider is not only focused on protecting families across Northern Illinois, he is also actively carrying on his uncle’s legacy. Additionally, Representative Schneider’s community has already endured the pain of making national news for being the site of unnecessary gun violence, and he’s committed to ensuring it never happens again. In 2022, during a Fourth of July parade, seven innocent people were shot and killed in the congressman’s district—in the city of Highland Park—and an additional 48 others were injured. Representative Schneider himself was en route to the parade when the shooting occurred, and in the years that have followed, he’s joined with the families of those impacted to fight for real change in Washington DC.

In office, Representative Schneider has worked tirelessly to strengthen America’s gun laws and push back against the gun lobby’s dangerous agenda. Knowing that children in schools across Illinois have to deal with the daily trauma of fearing gun violence may impact their classrooms, Representative Schneider authored the bipartisan Securing Our Schools (SOS) Act, which authorized the Department of Justice to offer grants to school districts to buy alert buttons for classrooms and was signed into law in 2018. These SOS buttons notify law enforcement immediately in the event of an emergency to better protect students, teachers, and faculty. Representative Schneider has also continuously helped reintroduce legislation to ban large-capacity magazines and championed the SECURE Firearm Storage Act, which would require all firearms to be securely stored when a federally licensed gun dealer is not open for business, to prevent smash-and-grab gun store burglaries. In 2022, he also voted to pass the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first major gun safety legislation signed into law in nearly 30 years.

It’s clear that in Congressman Brad Schneider, Illinoisans have a representative who will always put their safety first. It’s imperative that voters mobilize this November to reelect this committed advocate—with him leading the way, a safer future is within reach for the children and families of the Tenth District.

We are proud to endorse Brad Schneider for the US House of Representatives.