Lawmakers urge more nonprofit security funding after threat

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(The Center Square) – Some legislators are calling for more taxpayer funding of nonprofit security grants after a potential mass shooting was averted in the Chicago suburbs.

U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Illinois, said he and countless other families were at the Balaji temple in Aurora on Oct. 10 to mark the beginning of one of the most important holidays in the Hindu religion, when an alleged shooter was in the parking lot with 300 rounds of ammunition.

“He took one shot at a passerby, and according to the police, his gun jammed,” Krishnamoorthi said at a news conference Friday in Chicago.

Krishnamoorthi said the suspect informed a co-worker that he was going back to finish the job, but the co-worker informed police, who arrested Alexandros Paporakis, 19, as he was leaving his home in Palatine that night.

“According to court documents, the manifesto that he wrote described Indians, Jews, Black people and other minorities as, quote, sub human,” Krishnamoorthi said.

The congressman said the shooter was radicalized by social media, where silos of communities develop and vent hate.

“And they reinforce each other, driving up engagement and driving up profit for those tech companies, so they are profiting off of hate. But what we know is that hate doesn’t just stay on the internet, it transforms into violence,” Krishnamoorthi said.

Krishnamoorthi said Congress should close the immunity from liability loophole that Big Tech companies enjoy under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Deerfield, said the federal investment has grown from $300 million to $500 million, but the Jewish community is doing more.

“$1 billion is being invested in security, one community, $1 billion across the country because of the threats we’re facing,” Schneider said.

Schneider said he is a proud Jew who has lived his whole life under the shadow of going to synagogue with armed guards.

Krishnamoorthi said the federal government has withheld nonprofit security grants for “purely political reasons.”

State Sen. Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, said Illinois’ nonprofit security grant program provided $20 million in its first year, plus subsequent funding, but more is needed.

“As we start our budget conversations, looking through opportunities to fund this program at a higher level and get this funding out the door quicker to the communities that are especially experiencing hate is a top priority,” Villivalam said.

Illinois’ Not-for-Profit Security Grant Program provides up to $150,000 per site for security upgrades to eligible nonprofits who are deemed at high risk of a threat, attack or acts of terrorism.