A student-organized town hall on gun violence brought out a crowd to the First Congregational Church of Geneva Saturday.
The event was hosted by March for Our Lives – Geneva, a chapter of a national organization which began after 17 students were killed in a school shooting in Parkland, Fla.
The students invited U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood, D-Naperville, to discuss the issue.
Underwood, a registered nurse, has taken up mental health issues and advocated for changes in gun laws during her first term in office.
“It breaks my heart that every time we meet there has been another mass shooting,” Underwood said, referencing the workplace shooting at the Henry Pratt Co. in Aurora in February that killed five people and injured five police officers.
“No one should have to go to school or work in fear of their lives,” she told about 90 people in the church sanctuary.
While there’s been some progress to prevent gun violence, it’s far from the finish line, she said.
The U.S. House earlier this year passed a bill expanding federal background checks for gun purchases and transfers, and another measure that would increase the waiting period the licensed firearm dealers and licensees have to wait from three to 10 days.
“Universal background checks are a way to make sure guns don’t end up in hands of people who should not have them,” she said.
Studies of profiles of mass shooters show a history of domestic violence, which speak to “the lack of resources” for shelters, lifelines and counselors in communities, she said.
The challenge is Senate action, she said.
The House has passed the bills but they sit in the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has refused to bring the bills up for a vote, she said.
“We pass these measures in the House and they sit in the Senate,” she said.
The Senate also has not passed re-authorization for the Violence Against Women Act that would set priorities of the program for the next five years.
The good news is the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary will return to session early on Sept. 4 to address the issue of gun violence prevention, Underwood said.
Members will debate a series of bills, including the Keep Americans Safe Act and the Extreme Risk Protection Order Act, which may be amended to include provisions from the Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Act and the Disarm Hate Act. The committee will also hold a hearing on Sept. 25 on military-style assault weapons.
She expects the issue of domestic terrorism will come up when Congress convenes in September as well.
Sixteen-year-old Matt Ammon moderated the town hall and brought up the overall mental health issues that need to be addressed in school. “We barely touched on gun violence in health class,” the student said.
“I hear from so many young people in our community who think they will experience a mass shooting in their school,” Underwood said. “There is a level of fear among young people. I see kids with backpacks that are practically bigger than they are who go to school with fear. It’s heartbreaking.”
Underwood praised the work of the student-led group.
“I am so incredibly optimistic. We are here because of a small group of young people from Geneva came together. That’s the power of a small group of committed citizens,” she said.
The purpose for hosting the town hall was to encourage civic engagement on the issue, organizers said.
“Gun violence has become an epidemic,” said Braden Meiners, a Geneva High School senior and co-founder.
“It’s urgent that Congress pass laws to make our communities across the nation safer. Children especially need to feel safe going to school,” he said.
Geneva resident Kara Fenne, an assistant professor of nursing at Northern Illinois University, attended the town hall.
“We do cover gun violence as an epidemic in our class,” Fenne said. “School starts Monday, had it begun later I would have encouraged my students to be here.
She previously was an elementary school nurse in Geneva.
“The anxiety level among children is high,” she said “One of the reasons for feelings of anxiety is a heightened awareness for safety that transitions to the college campuses.
“I don’t know that our kids really do feel safe,” she added.
Geneva High School graduate Jack Cottrell, 19, attended the town hall. He’s heading to the University of Toronto next week, where he is a sophomore.
I was born in Canada and became a U.S. citizen last year. I feel it is my responsibility to be engaged in the issue,” Cottrell said. “It’s impressive to see the kids take a leadership role in gun violence.”
Martha Paschke has three children in the Geneva schools. “It scares me,” she said of the gun violence across the nation.
Paschke was in high school in Australia when there was a mass shooting in 1996 when 35 people were killed and 23 wounded in Port Arthur, Tasmania.
Sweeping gun control measures were taken, she said.
“Australia had an immediate response. My kids have to live in constant fear of it happening,” she said.
Paschke is a member of the Kane and Kendall counties chapter of Moms Demand Action. “We need to put pressure on the Senate to call the votes up,” the Geneva mother said.
Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.