CHARLESTON, S.C. — Democratic presidential candidate Cory Booker is set to deliver a gun policy speech in a historic South Carolina church that’s become synonymous with hate-fueled attacks on people of faith.

The speech on Wednesday at Mother Emanuel AME comes days after mass shootings in Texas and Ohio killed 31 people.

The New Jersey senator has called for the licensing of all gun owners by the federal government. He often speaks of the issue in personal terms, referencing shootings close to his home in Newark.

Booker says he’s grateful to speak at Mother Emanuel AME, the Charleston congregation where nine black Bible study participants were slain in a 2015 racist attack.

He tells The Associated Press that “this is a problem that unfortunately seems to be getting worse and not better.”

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