Amy Schumer Calls For Vote On Gun Control Bill

Comedian Amy Schumer and her cousin, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, have teamed up again to push for new gun legislation, Entertainment Weekly reported. The pair also united earlier this year following a shooting that happened July 23 while screening Trainwreck in Lafayette, Louisiana, to plead for tougher gun control laws.

“Schumer and Schumer announced today on the steps of New York’s City Hall that they’re teaming up again for a new push for gun control legislation, with Sen. Schumer introducing specific policy initiatives for stronger background checks.”

According to the report, Amy Schumer spoke up in support of her cousin’s new initiative, asking the public to educate themselves and speak out against gun violence by asking for congressional action to address the issue.

Sen. Schumer has proposed that lawmakers enact legislation that will close the existing background check loopholes by preventing criminals to avoid background checks by purchasing firearms at gun shows and online. In addition, his plan would make the existing background check process more effective by preventing those convicted of domestic violence from purchasing guns, in addition to requiring extensive background checks on all gun sales. Finally, the new legislation aims to shut down a major pipeline for illegal guns by making so-called “straw purchasing” and other forms of gun trafficking federal crimes.

Amy also tweeted Saturday that her Live at the Apollo special was dedicated to the memory of the two women who were killed in the Lafayette shooting, which happened during a showing of her film, Trainwreck. The shooting took the lives of Jillian Johnson and Mayci Breaux, while wounding nine others, at the Grand Theatre on Johnson Street.

She also expressed her feelings at a joint press conference following the tragic event.

“I’m not sure why this man chose my movie to end those two lives and injure nine others, but it was very personal to for me. We always find out how the shooter got their gun and it’s always something that never should have happened in the first place. These shootings have got to stop. I don’t know how else to say it.”

Gun violence in America has risen to epic proportions, becoming almost routine, with massacre after massacre playing out on the airwaves with sickening regularity as citizens and lawmakers remain gridlocked and fail to take any real steps toward addressing the problem. This seemingly chronic inertia comes despite gut wrenching statistics, along with the fact that an overwhelming majority of 93 percent of Americans – including 90 percent of Republican voters – support measures like expanding background checks to include all gun sales, according to PollingReport.com.

An average of 297 people in the U.S., including 49 children and teens, are shot every single day in the U.S., and 96 of those victims will die from their wounds. In one year, an average of 32,514 people die from gun violence in America, and experts estimate that at least 40 percent of guns now sold in the U.S. are done so without a background check, according to BradyCampaign.org.

As for mass shootings, a term defined as any incident where four or more people are killed or injured by a gun during a shooting spree, there have been 294 so far in 2015 alone – more than one every day. There have also been 45 school shootings so far this year, according to MassShootingTracker.com.

However, according to the Gun Violence Archive, the majority of gun deaths in the U.S. actually occur in smaller, often unreported incidents, with nearly 10,000 people killed by firearms so far this year, and more than 20,000 injured, as of October 2.

[Photo by Brendon Thorne / Getty Images]