CHICAGO — A week after becoming the Republican Party nominee for governor, state Sen. Darren Bailey sought Thursday to pivot from his bungled response to the mass shooting in Highland Park by declaring more gun control laws weren’t necessary, saying state funds needed to be better directed for mental health services and trying to cast blame for violence throughout Illinois on his opponent in the fall, Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
But Bailey’s efforts to move past the controversy ran into problems of their own as the Downstate Republican conflated state gun control laws, misidentified a neighborhood in Chicago where violence occurred over the weekend and even misquoted a Bible verse.
Bailey for at least the second time apologized for comments he made hours after a gunman opened fire at the Highland Park Fourth of July parade, killing seven and wounding dozens more. Bailey in a Facebook post Monday prayed for victims, their families and law enforcement before saying, “Let’s pray for justice to prevail, and then let’s move on and let’s celebrate — celebrate the independence of this nation.”
