Good Guy with a Gun #128: Chicago, IL

Original incident: March 8, 2024. The Illinois House of Representatives would like you to join them in honoring Jocqwon Oshay Foster.

These posts are based on our Good Guy with a Gun calendar.

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Epilogue

I know what you’re thinking: Jake, don’t epilogues come at the end of a story? Yes, and that’s where we’re starting today.

On May 31, 2025, House Resolution 181 went up for a vote in Illinois. The legislators saw the following words opening HR0181:

WHEREAS, Gun violence continues to devastate communities across the State of Illinois, taking the lives of individuals from all walks of life, leaving families in mourning, and impacting neighborhoods, schools, and local economies;

Yeah, “gun violence.” There’s not one mention of “knife violence” on the Illinois legislature’s website, though.

There’s more about funding, commitment to taking meaningful steps (whatever they mean by that), disproportionately affected areas, and so on. One paragraph says this:

WHEREAS, It is essential to honor and remember the lives lost to gun violence, recognizing the humanity and dignity of each individual who was taken too soon;

And here’s the beginning of the RESOLVED paragraph:

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we honor the lives of all individuals who lost their lives to gun violence, including these victims in Chicago in 2024:

…and there, on page eight, is the name of Jocqwon Oshay Foster, who was twenty-six years old when he was killed by “gun violence.”

The resolution passed, 9-4 with one not voting.

Now let’s go back fourteen months, to the day of Foster’s death on March 8, 2024.