***MEDIA AND EVENT ADVISORY***
PENNSYLVANIA MAYORS, LAW ENFORCEMENT, AND LOCAL ADVOCATES TO
GATHER IN CHESTER TO URGE PHILADELPHIA-AREA CONGRESSMEN TO SUPPORT COMMON-SENSE
BACKGROUND CHECK LEGISLATION
Participants To Thank Reps. Meehan and Brady for Standing With
Majority of Pennsylvanians Who Support Gun Background Checks, Urge Reps. Dent
and Gerlach to Follow Their Lead
Event is Part of “No More Names: National Drive to Reduce Gun
Violence” Bus Tour;
On
Monday, August 26th, Mayors John Linder of Chester and Richard Lowe of
Swarthmore, Chester Police Commissioner Joseph Bail Jr., Representative
Thaddeus Kirkland, and local advocates will gather in Chester as part of the
“No More Names: National Drive to Reduce Gun Violence” – a 25-state national
bus tour over a period of 100 days aimed at urging America’s leaders to support
common-sense gun policies. Participants will come together Monday to voice
their continued support for comprehensive and enforceable background checks,
and they will urge Philadelphia-area U.S. House members to back this
tough-on-crime measure by co-sponsoring bipartisan background checks
legislation in Congress.
The event is being
organized by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a bipartisan coalition of more than
1,000 mayors and 1.5 million grassroots supporters nationwide – including more than 200 member mayors and 106,000 grassroots supporters in Pennsylvania.
This past April, Senator
Pat Toomey stood with nearly 90 percent of
Pennsylvanians when he co-sponsored
bipartisan background checks legislation with fellow NRA A-rated Senator Joe
Manchin that would have helped keep firearms out of the wrong hands by
extending background checks to cover private gun sales in commercial settings.
Senator Casey, too, demonstrated leadership on this issue when he joined a
majority of senators in voting in favor of the bill. It failed, however, after
it was blocked by a minority of senators. Corresponding legislation in the U.S.
House, sponsored by Congressmen Peter King (R-NY) and Mike Thompson (D-CA),
currently has more than 180 co-sponsors, including Congressmen Bob Brady (D-PA)
and Pat Meehan (R-PA). But Southeast Pennsylvania Congressmen Jim Gerlach and
Charles Dent have not yet signed onto the bill.
Every day, 33 Americans
are murdered with guns in this country. “No More Names: National Drive to
Reduce Gun Violence” is part of Mayors Against Illegal Guns’ ongoing, national
effort to continue raising awareness to the issue of gun violence in America –
and most importantly, to urge elected officials to prioritize the safety of the
people they represent.
What: Event to urge Philadelphia-area U.S. House
members to support bipartisan background checks legislation in Congress
Who: Mayor
John Linder of Chester, member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns
- Mayor Richard Lowe of Swarthmore, member of Mayors Against
Illegal Guns
- Chester Police Commissioner Joseph Bail Jr.
- Representative Thaddeus Kirkland
- Beverly Wright, President of Women of Strength
Where: City Hall
1 Fourth Street
Chester, Pennsylvania 19013
When: Monday,
August 26th at 11 a.m. ET: Press Conference
About Mayors Against Illegal Guns
Since its creation in
April 2006, Mayors Against Illegal Guns has grown from 15 members to more than
1,000 mayors from across the country. We have more than 1.5 million grassroots
supporters – including more than 106,000 in Pennsylvania – making us the
largest gun violence prevention advocacy organization in the country. The
bipartisan coalition, co-chaired by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and
Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, has united the nation’s mayors around these common
goals: protecting communities by holding gun offenders accountable; demanding
access to crime gun trace data that is critical to law enforcement efforts to
combat gun trafficking; and working with legislators to fix weaknesses and
loopholes in the law that make it far too easy for criminals and other
dangerous people to get guns. Learn more at www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org
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