Running to Protect Children In Memory of My Son Aaron

I am running in honor of our beloved and painfully missed forever-24-year-old son Aaron, who died from preventable gun violence in Grand Traverse County on April 28,2020..

If elected, I promise to move to rescind the dangerous so-called “2nd Amendment Sanctuary” designation adopted in March 2020 by the GTBOC that encouraged a non-compliant gun shop to remain open without fear of legal penalty during the pandemic shutdown to sell firearms during the especially heightened period of deadly contagious illness, isolation and despair.

During a dark, icy morning, a local shop defiantly remained open to sell a semiautomatic rifle to our son, a nursing student studying complex anatomy and physiology who was experiencing anxiety and depression during exam week. Aaron died alone from that weapon hours later. The GTBOC “2nd Amendment Sanctuary” vote that is now in conflict with Michigan gun safety laws enacted in 2024 signals that gun safety laws will not be enforced in our county, so the Grand Traverse County Prosecutor failed to ticket the gun seller for violating the pandemic  shutdown, which did not include gun shops as service providers necessary to preserve human life. When our son could not see his doctor or therapist, he was far too easily sold a gun with no waiting period, no compliance with a state health law, and no gun safety measures that we could have legally taken to save his life. Grand Traverse County Commissioners have no jurisdiction to pass initiatives making deadly weapons easier to obtain than our state or federal standards, but they did. This case of local government overreach cost our son his irreplaceable life. Because no family should have to attend the funeral of their child from a gun death, I will move to rescind this terrible vote to protect children and families in Grand Traverse County.