Ohioans To Gather For "We Stand With Newtown" Rally, Calling On Representatives Stivers and Joyce To Co-Sponsor Life-Saving Background Check Legislation

HILLIARD, Ohio, June 13, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Faith leaders, community leaders and concerned citizens will join together in a day of remembrance and a call to action in Hilliard and Twinsburg Friday to commemorate the six-month anniversary of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT that took the lives of 26 victims. Attendees will ask Representatives Steve Stivers and David Joyce to co-sponsor bipartisan, life-saving background check legislation introduced by Reps. Mike Thompson and Pete King.

The event coincides with Mayors Against Illegal Guns' official launch of its "No More Names: National Drive to Reduce Gun Violence" tour from Newtown. The tour will go to 25 states over a period of 100 days. At each stop on the tour, gun violence survivors, their families and concerned community members will rally in support of gun violence prevention efforts and to urge their representatives in Washington to support background checks that will reduce gun violence.

Every day, 33 Americans are murdered with guns in the United States. This past April, a minority of U.S. senators voted to block bipartisan legislation sponsored by Senators Joe Manchin and Pat Toomey that would have helped keep guns out of the hands of criminals by requiring background checks for commercial gun sales. Recent independent polls have found that 83 percent of Ohioans support background checks for all gun sales.

Event details are below:

Hilliard

What:  We Stand With Newtown Rally; Calling on Representative Steve Stivers to Support the King-Thompson Compromise Bill

Who: Kelly Cameron, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, Colleen Ogle, United Methodist Church, Organizing For Action, Community and Faith Leaders, and Mayors Against Illegal Guns

Where:  Hilliard Municipal Building, 3800 Municipal Way, Hilliard, OH 43026

When: Friday, June 14, 12:00 p.m.

Twinsburg

What: We Stand With Newtown Rally; Calling on Representative David Joyce to Support the King-Thompson Compromise Bill

Who:  Lori O'Neil with National Council of Jewish Women, and Pastor Kristine Eggert of Disciples Christian Church, Organizing For Action, Summit County Progressives, Community and Faith Leaders, and Mayors Against Illegal Guns

Where: Twinsburg Township Square, Darrow Rd & Aurora Rd, Twinsburg, Ohio 44087 ‎

When:  Friday, June 14, 4:00 p.m.

About Mayors Against Illegal Guns
Since its creation in April 2006, Mayors Against Illegal Guns has grown from 15 members to more than 950 mayors from across the country. We have more than 1.5 million grassroots supporters, 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

MEDIA CONTACT
Kate Downen: [email protected] or 406-224-5056
Jack Warner: [email protected] or 914-575-1090

SOURCE Mayors Against Illegal Guns