Gun violence activist Robert Emmons Jr. is 27 years old and running for Congress in Illinois’ 1st District, seeking to unseat Democratic Rep. Bobby Rush, who’s been in office for most of Emmons’ life.

Emmons, a progressive newcomer who is pushing for a Green New Deal and “Medicare for All,” is placing gun violence at the center of his platform. His district, which includes Chicago’s South Side, is one of the areas of the city with the highest rates of shootings. He moved to the lower-income area as a young teen and lost a close friend to gun violence in 2015.

“We know what causes gun violence in our district,” Emmons said in his campaign video. “It’s not lack of morals... it’s systemic poverty, it’s educational inequity.”

He sees the solutions to gun violence in his district and beyond not as more law enforcement or even stricter gun laws ― Illinois already has some of the strictest gun laws in the country ― but rather as providing a living wage, making health care affordable, eliminating student debt and more.

“That’s why I’m running: To make this the very last generation to be faced by everyday gun violence by addressing it by its root causes,” Emmons told HuffPost. “It’s looking at what causes everyday gun violence: systemic poverty, a racist criminal justice system, our young people not having access to upward mobility.”

He hopes to challenge the myths people perpetuate about communities like his that suffer from everyday gun violence ― and what the solutions are to address it.

“I hear a lot of mumbo jumbo saying young people in my community that look like me lack values or morals or it lies on the parents ― it’s none of those,” Emmons said, noting the city has under-resourced schools and lead in its drinking water. Last year, Chicago schools serving low-income Black students were twice as likely as others to have a yearlong teacher vacancy, according to NPR.

“It’s not a lack of morals or values ― our parents are doing the best they can in a system that isn’t designed for them to be successful, to fully be in the household, because they’re working two to three jobs,” Emmons added.

But Emmons, who is Black, faces long odds against Rush, who is also Black and is known for his years of fighting for civil rights in the 1960s. Rush, who co-founded the Black Panther Party in Chicago in 1967 and was first elected to Congress in 1992, won the largely Democratic district last year with more than 73% of the vote.