Andrew Burton/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — Comedian Amy Schumer is joining forces with her cousin, Sen. Chuck Schumer, to push for new gun control legislation on Capitol Hill.
The Trainwreck star appeared with the New York senator Monday morning at a news conference with a sign saying “Enough Is Enough” by their side.
“Amy may have started out as a comedian but this subject is really serious,” the senator said, adding, “I have a lot of press conferences but I almost never get this many people.”
For Amy Schumer, the subject of gun violence and mass shootings became “extremely personal” last month, when John Russell Houser opened fire in a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana during a screening of her film Trainwreck, killing two people and injuring nine others.
“Two lives were tragically lost and others injured and I’ve thought about these victims each day since the tragedy,” the comic actress said, while refusing to say the name of the gunman who took his own life during the mass shooting.
But Schumer did go into detail about the two women, Jillian Johnson and Mayci Breaux, who were killed.
“My heart goes out to Jillian and Mayci, to the survivors, and anyone who was tied to this tragic, senseless, and horrifying actions of this man who shouldn’t have been able to put his hands on a gun in the first place,” she said. “I’m not sure why this man chose my movie to end these two beautiful lives and hurt nine others, but it was very personal for me.”
She called the three-pronged plan Sen. Schumer is putting forward in Congress “sensible measures.”
The senator wants to compel states to share information about felons, spousal abusers and the adjudicated mentally ill with the federal government for the national background check system; to survey all 50 states on their standards for involuntary commitment for the mentally ill and put forward national best practices; and to get Congress to fully fund mental health and substance abuse programs.
“No one wants to live in a country where a felon, the mentally ill or other dangerous people can get their hands on a gun with such ease,” his star cousin said.
She added, “These are my first public comments on the issue of gun violence, but I can promise you they won’t be my last.”
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