An outspoken proponent of eliminating gun violence in her community, State Senator Mattie Hunter supported a measure aimed at keeping guns out of the hands of criminals and gives law enforcement another tool to stop gun smugglers. The new law requires anyone who sells or transfers a firearm to verify that the recipient has a valid FOID Card; it also establishes that gun owners must report lost or stolen weapons within 72 hours of discovering the loss.

“If your gun is stolen and someone commits a crime with it, then the original owner is the suspected criminal,” Hunter said. “A firearm that is reported lost or stolen has a better chance of being returned to its owner.”

In her continued efforts to reduce youth violence in Chicago, State Senator Mattie Hunter’s legislation to create the Youth Violence Prevention Task Force was signed into law. House Bill 2879 authorizes the task force to increase awareness by providing job opportunities, social and education initiatives, safe havens and other opportunities for violence prevention for at-risk youth.

“Youth violence has devastated our nation as homicide is now the 2nd leading cause of death for youth ages 15 to 29, and the epidemic is particularly rampant in Chicago,” State Senator Mattie Hunter said. “We must act now because more adolescents are killed in Chicago than any other U.S. city is simply unacceptable. We owe it to our children to do our best to protect them.”

Majority Caucus Whip State Sen. Mattie Hunter made this statement regarding the passage of concealed carry legislation:

“My approval of this legislation is not without reservations. This plan that still leaves much to be desired in the way of addressing public safety and the current violence epidemic. But I realize the importance of making sure we have a statute in place to protect our citizens and communities before the June 9th deadline given to us by the Federal Appeals Court. Although I would like to see a proposal that more carefully and thoroughly considered the current gun violence crisis devastating Chicago and the communities I represent, the reality is we must have something established by the June 9th deadline to avoid the instatement of constitutional carry.”

In an attempt to gather a comprehensive collection of racial data, police statewide would be required to identify, as accurately as possible, the ethnicity of all arrested under legislation sponsored by State Sen. Mattie Hunter  now on its way to the governor’s desk.

“Previous to 2010, state police identified 99 percent of those arrested as either ‘Black’ or “White,’ leaving all other populations unaccounted for and ignored,” Hunter stated after her legislation passed the General Assembly. “With this measure, we will achieve greater documentation and understanding of the individuals being arrested in Illinois, for what particular crimes and be able to identify specific trends in arrests and incarceration.”