Sen. Schumer enlists famous cousin Amy to pitch guns bill

Sen. Chuck Schumer teamed up with another Schumer — actress and comedian Amy — on Monday to push for stricter gun-control laws.

The two Schumers held a news conference in New York to unveil a new proposal drafted by the senator meant to prevent violent criminals, abusers and those with mental illnesses from obtaining guns. The push comes in the wake of the shooting in Lafayette, Louisiana, last month at a screening of Amy Schumer’s new movie “Trainwreck,” at which two women were killed and at least nine other people were injured.


“If there is anything that the mass shootings in Lafayette, Chattanooga, Charleston, Virginia Tech, Aurora, Sandy Hook and so many other places have taught us, it’s that we should be do everything in our power to prevent weapons from falling into the hands of hateful evil-doers and the mentally ill,” the senator said in a statement. “However, the U.S. is not doing enough and too many lives are at stake.”

Authorities say the suspect in the Lafayette shooting, John Russell Houser, had a history of mental illness. Houser shot and killed himself after the movie-theater rampage on July 23.

“What Chuck is describing are sensible measures and restrictions,” Amy Schumer said. “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. The time is now for the American people to rally for these changes.”

The actress and comedian, who is a cousin of the New York Democrat, added: “These are my first public comments on the issue of gun violence — I can promise you this: They will not be my last.”

The Monday news conference came after public pressure from survivors of the December 2012 elementary-school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, who have become among the most prominent advocates of tougher gun-control laws.

Sarah Clements, whose mother Abbey survived the shooting at Sandy Hook, wrote an open letter to Amy Schumer urging the actress to make a more vocal stand on gun violence.

“Amy Schumer, I and many other Millennials look up to you so much. You are our generation’s epitome of what it means to be a strong, powerful, self-aware champion for the experiences and truths of being a woman and an American today,” Clements wrote on Medium. “I know deep down that the tweet you sent after the shooting was not all that you’ve got. And we need your voice in this movement. We need your help.”

Still, the spate of shooting massacres in recent years — whether at an elementary school in Connecticut, at movie theaters in Louisiana and Colorado or in a church in Charleston, South Carolina — has done little to change the politics of gun control on Capitol Hill.

Two years ago, the Democratic-led Senate could not muster 60 votes to advance background-checks legislation written by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) in the aftermath of the Newtown massacre, in which 20 young children and six adults were killed.

Since then, the prospects of enacting tougher gun-control measures have essentially collapsed in Congress. Last week, three Senate Democrats — Schumer, and Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut — held a news conference to call on large retailers to voluntarily close a loophole in federal background-check laws governing gun purchases.

With the chances of a gun-control vote in the GOP-controlled Congress unlikely, Democrats were taking their plea directly to businesses. Schumer, Murphy and Blumenthal asked retailers to require completion of background checks, despite a provision in federal law that allows firearms transactions to proceed if a background check is not completed within three days of an attempted purchase.

Authorities say Dylann Roof, who is accused in the fatal shooting of nine people at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, was able to obtain a gun because of that loophole.

On Monday, the Schumers outlined a three-part gun-control plan, according to the senator’s office. The new legislation uses a carrots-and-sticks strategy for states to submit key records into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. States that give all the paperwork will get financial rewards, while states that don’t will face penalties.

The two Schumers also pressed the Justice Department to write a report and make recommendations on how states handle involuntary mental health commitment. And then the duo pushed Congress to fully fund mental-health and substance-abuse programs, noting that the Senate Republican budget proposal slices $159 million from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

“We are grateful that the Schumers are using their public platforms to join together to fight for gun sense and say we must do more to keep guns out of dangerous hands,” said Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. “It’s time for other leaders in politics and entertainment, and all Americans, to join the movement calling for common-sense public safety measures — like background checks on all gun sales —that will save American lives.”

Reforming the nation’s mental-health care system is one idea that has gained bipartisan traction. Following the Lafayette shootings, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) took to the floor to call for fixes to the current mental health care system as he honored the two shooting victims, Jillian Johnson and Mayci Breaux.

Cassidy will unveil legislation overhauling the mental health system on Tuesday with Murphy. The bill is expected to hew closely to mental-health legislation in the House, drafted by Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.).

“The events that transpired in Lafayette … are a reminder of the long road we must take to reform our mental health system,” Cassidy said last week. “Too many innocent lives are being taken in senseless attacks in movie theaters, schools, churches and other places where we should feel safe. The common denominator in these tragedies is all too often untreated mental illness.”