Running to Protect Children In Memory of Our Son Aaron
I am running in honor of our beloved and painfully missed forever-24-year-old son Aaron. 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 illness and despair.
A month later, a local gun shop defiantly remained open to sell a semiautomatic rifle to our son, a nursing student 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 the active state health law, and at that time 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 County Commission 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. The “2A” Sanctuary is also in conflict with State of Michigan gun safety laws including an extreme risk gun protection clause to prevent people at risk of harm to self or others from purchasing a firearm with a judge’s order. To ensure public safety, Michigan gun safety laws must be enforced rather than ignored in Grand Traverse County.