Amy Schumer and Sen. Chuck Schumer are calling for tougher gun laws
During a joint news conference, comedian Amy Schumer joined forces with her cousin, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), to call for tougher restrictions on guns in light of recent mass shootings.
Amy Schumer was compelled to speak out after a screening of the film Trainwreck, which she wrote and starred in, was broken up by a fatal shooting of two women in July. The male shooter was reportedly anti-feminist. When the daughter of a Sandy Hook shooting survivor wrote an open letter to Schumer urging her to do more about gun violence and specifically the danger women face, the comedian replied on Twitter, "Don't worry I'm on it. You'll see."
Colin Daileda at Mashable reports Schumer & Schumer, as they referred to themselves Monday, proposed three main ideas during their conference: rewards and penalties enticing states to comply with submitting background-check records, full funding from Congress of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and a Department of Justice report comparing state standards on involuntary commitment to mental health facilities.
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"I have a lot of press conferences, but I almost never get this much attention," the senator joked, thanking his celebrity cousin.
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Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.