Actress and comedian Amy Schumer is calling for greater gun control in the US following the fatal shooting at a screening of her film Trainwreck last month.
21-year-old Mayci Breaux and 33-year-old Jillian Johnson were shot dead at a Louisiana cinema. The shooter then turned the gun on himself.
Amy Schumer joined her second cousin - New York Senator Chuck Schumer - at a press conference today to unveil the senator's three part-plan to help tackle gun violence.
The Guardian reports the plan would make it more difficult for violent criminals and mentally ill people to obtain firearms. It would also offer monetary rewards for US states who submit proper background check records, and penalise states that don't.
Supporting her cousin's plan and describing how affected she was by the recent shooting, Ms Schumer said, "we need a background check system without holes and fatal flaws. We need one with accurate information that protects us like a firewall. The critics scoff and say... there’s no way to stop crazy people from doing crazy things. But they’re wrong.
"There is a way to stop them. Preventing dangerous people from getting guns is very possible. We have common sense solutions. We can toughen background checks and stop the sale of firearms to folks who have a violent history or history of mental illness. We can invest more in treating mental illness instead of slashing funding."
She added that these were her "first public comments on the issue of gun violence, but I can promise you they will not be my last."
Schumer's comments follow an open letter to the comedian by gun violence prevention advocate Sarah Clements, who is also the daughter of a Sandy Hook shooting survivor.
She asked the actress to be "a voice for our generation and for women”Š- ”Štwo groups who make up most of the victims of the gun violence in our country."
Schumer had quickly responded to the open letter on Twitter:
@cdickason11 @sfclem Her name was Mayci, not Marci and I think about her and Jillian everyday. Don't worry I'm on it. You'll see.
— Amy Schumer (@amyschumer) August 1, 2015
