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Senator Peters urges manufacturer fees for gun‑violence prevention; residents press county on transportation funds and grassroots support
Summary
State Senator Peters spoke in favor of a county resolution to fund gun‑violence prevention by making firearm manufacturers 'pay their fair share'; public speakers accused the county of diverting transportation funds and urged more support and facilities for street‑level violence‑intervention groups.
State Senator Peters addressed the Cook County committee to urge support for a resolution and related legislation in Springfield that he said would help fund firearm violence‑prevention work by requiring gun manufacturers to contribute to prevention programs.
"We need to make sure that gun manufacturers are paying their fair share when it comes to gun violence in our state," Senator Peters said, describing a landscape in which Illinois and local partners had created an Office of Firearm Violence Prevention and directed hundreds of millions of dollars to that work.
At the Transportation Committee public comment period, Zoe Lee, the first registered public speaker, accused Cook County of diverting dedicated transportation fund revenues across multiple years. Lee cited figures she described as typical annual transportation‑fund intake (approximately $237,000,000–$250,000,000 in fiscal year 2023 and $243,000,000 in 2018) and said that such transfers contribute to rising property taxes. "Y'all stealing it," Lee said, urging political change in response.
Dr. Sandy A. Norman, founder of Chainbreakers VIP and Life Beyond Limits, Inc., asked commissioners to do more to support grassroots, street‑based violence intervention organizations. Norman said her group operates 24‑hour interventions in neighborhoods including Lawndale and East Garfield, that frontline groups are often excluded from funding and decision‑making, and requested help securing a building and other resources so they can expand services.
"People are dying in our neighborhoods," Norman said, asking the committee to recognize and support organizations that work directly in impacted communities. She said she would leave contact information with staff.
The committee took no immediate funding actions on the public comments during this meeting. Senator Peters left to attend a press conference and noted a personal appointment; Dr. Norman and Zoe Lee were given time to speak under the public comment rules. The committee then proceeded to its consent agenda and approved a slate of transportation items.
