When Sarah Clements, whose mother survived the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, wrote an open letter to Amy Schumer this weekend about fighting gun violence, the comedian quickly tweeted back.
Last month, two women were killed during a shooting that happened during a showing of Schumer’s new movie, Trainwreck, in Lafayette, Louisiana.
Today, it became clear what she was hinting at.
Schumer is teaming up with her cousin Chuck — who happens to be a New York senator — on an initiative to get politicians interested in fighting gun violence. The pair talked about their plan at a press conference this morning. According to Entertainment Weekly, Senator Schumer hopes to introduce legislation that would reward states that submit comprehensive data to the national background check system (and penalize states that don’t), call on the Justice Department to recommend how states should deal with guns and mental health, and make sure Congress fully funds mental health and substance abuse programs.
Congress usually debates gun control after high-profile shootings, but laws rarely get passed. As the New York Times pointed out in 2013, the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, prompted state legislators to pass 109 laws involving guns. Thirty-nine laws tightened gun restrictions; 70 loosened them. Gun-control talk didn’t even make much of an appearance after the shooting in Charleston in June.
“These shootings have got to stop,” Amy Schumer said at the press conference. “I don’t know how else to say it.”
