Senator and Comedian Team Up for Gun Control
- By Ginger Hill
- Aug 03, 2015
Even though she expected backlash, comedian and actress Amy Schumer is standing up for what she believes in: gun control. Teaming up with her second cousin once removed, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-New York, they are saying enough is enough and pushing for new gun control legislation on Capitol Hill.
Gun violence became an “extremely personal” issue for Amy on July 23 when a gunman killed two people and wounded nine others in the Lafayette, Louisiana movie theater shooting during a showing of Schumer’s film “Trainwreck.” Amy admits that she has thought about these victims each day since then and wonders why the shooter, a person with a history of mental illness, had a gun in the first place.
Since speaking up about gun control, Amy has received death threats and a lot of hate, but she claims that she is proud of the way she’s living and what she stands for.
Sen. Schumer proposes the following three-pronged plan in which Amy believes are sensible measures:
- Implementation of a “carrot and stick” system to encourage states to share information about felons, spousal abusers and the adjudicated mentally ill with the federal government. Schumer proposes that states would receive funding for sharing this information and denied funding if they refused to share.
- Survey all 50 states on their standards for involuntary commitment for the mentally ill and establish national best practices.
- Mental health and substance abuse programs fully funded by Congress, even though it has been proposed to cut $159 million in federal funding that helps treat the mentally ill.
Gun control proposals haven’t gotten anywhere in Congress in recent years, but Sen. Schumer is hoping that his find support in Washington.
About the Author
Ginger Hill is Group Social Media Manager.