Pennsylvania Mayors, Law Enforcement, and Local Advocates Gather In Chester to Urge Philadelphia-Area Congressmen to Support Common-Sense Background Checks Legislation

Participants Thank Reps. Meehan and Brady for Standing With Majority of Pennsylvanians Who Support Gun Background Checks, Urge Reps. Dent and Gerlach to Follow Their Lead

Event is Part of "No More Names: National Drive to Reduce Gun Violence" Bus Tour; www.NoMoreNames.org

CHESTER, Pa., Aug. 26, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A broad coalition of gun violence prevention advocates – including Mayors John Linder of Chester and Richard Lowe of Swarthmore, Police Commissioner Joseph Bail Jr., Representative Thaddeus Kirkland, and a local gun owner – gathered in Chester today as part of the "No More Names: National Drive to Reduce Gun Violence," a 25-state national bus tour over a period of 100 days aimed at urging America's leaders to support common-sense gun policies. The tour is sponsored by the bipartisan coalition Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which has more than 200 member mayors and 106,000 grassroots supporters in Pennsylvania.

Participants came together Monday to voice their continued support for comprehensive and enforceable background checks, and they urged Philadelphia-area U.S. House members Charles Dent and Jim Gerlach to back this tough-on-crime measure by co-sponsoring bipartisan background checks legislation in Congress. They also thanked Congressmen Bob Brady and Pat Meehan for signing onto this bill.

This past April, Senator Pat Toomey stood with nearly 90 percent of Pennsylvanians when he co-sponsored bipartisan background checks legislation with fellow NRA A-rated Senator Joe Manchin that would have helped keep firearms out of the wrong hands by extending background checks to cover private gun sales in commercial settings. Senator Casey, too, demonstrated leadership on this issue when he joined a majority of senators in voting in favor of the bill. It failed, however, after it was blocked by a minority of senators. Corresponding legislation in the U.S. House, sponsored by Congressmen Peter King (R-NY) and Mike Thompson (D-CA), currently has more than 180 co-sponsors, including Congressmen Brady and Meehan. But Southeast Pennsylvania Congressmen Gerlach and Dent have not yet signed onto the bill.

"I've traveled around the region speaking to audiences about gun violence prevention and I can tell you that people care about what's going on in Chester," said Chester Mayor John Linder. "They want Congress to do something about gun violence and they're not going to quit. We need comprehensive background checks and tougher penalties for illegal gun trafficking. Today we stand together to say enough is enough. No more names. We will not back down until Washington and Harrisburg take meaningful action."

"Mayor Linder and I have met with our representatives in Washington and Harrisburg. They heard us and they understand the common-sense logic of background checks," said Swarthmore Mayor Richard Lowe. "The Congressmen who represent Swarthmore and Chester, Bob Brady and Pat Meehan understand, and they've taken action. Our Senators, Bob Casey and Pat Toomey, have taken action. Now we want the rest of Congress to understand this is not a Democratic or Republican issue. It's about saving lives."

"In Chester we've taken great strides toward improving public safety and reducing violence, but we need the support of our representatives in Harrisburg and Washington," said Chester Police Commissioner Joseph Bail Jr. "We need to give prosecutors the tools to demand stronger sentences for gun crimes, and we need to require comprehensive, enforceable background checks."

"The pain of losing a son – as I have – or a daughter to gun violence is the hardest thing a parent has to endure, but it stings the whole community too," said Women of Strength President Beverly Wright. "We want to come outside and chat with our neighbors in peace. We want to see children playing outside without fear. That's why it's essential to stop the flow of illegal guns into our neighborhoods."

"Responsible gun owners agree that background checks – especially for private sales – are critical to keeping guns out of the hands of criminals and unstable individuals," said gun owner Antoinette Levitt. "I certainly would never sell my gun to someone without a background check. It's the least we can do to keep our families safe."

Participants in Monday's even included: Mayors John Linder of Chester and Richard Lowe of Swarthmore; Police Commissioner Joseph Bail Jr.; Representative Thaddeus Kirkland; local gun owner Antoinette Levitt; and Beverly Wright, President of Women of Strength.

During the rally, participants and attendees also read the names of victims of gun violence in Chester and those who have been killed with guns since the Newtown mass shooting in December 2012.

Along with 15 other states and the District of Columbia, Pennsylvania goes beyond federal law by requiring background checks before private handgun sales.[1] In turn, the state has seen the public safety benefits of enacting this common-sense measure. In states that already require background checks for all handgun sales:

• Thirty-eight percent fewer women are shot to death by an intimate partner than in other states, while the rate murdered by other means was nearly identical.[2]
• The firearm suicide rate was 49 percent lower than in other states, even though people committed suicide in other ways at almost precisely the same rate.[3]
• Thirty-nine percent fewer law enforcement officers were shot to death with handguns.[4]

In 2011, nearly one-in-five guns that were recovered at Pennsylvania crime scenes were originally purchased out-of-state despite the Commonwealth's better-than-average background check laws. [5] Although a national solution is the ideal way to stop the flow of illegal guns into Pennsylvania, a bipartisan bill currently before the state House Judiciary Committee (H.B. 1010) would fully close the private-sale loophole by requiring background checks for private sales of military style assault weapons and other long guns. 

The No More Names tour provides an opportunity for the more than 90 percent of Americans who support background checks to drive home a message to our elected officials that our country needs common-sense gun laws. At each stop, participants are holding rallies with a broad coalition of supporters – including police, survivors, domestic violence prevention advocates, mayors, and other elected officials – to commemorate those we've lost and call on our leaders to stand with the American people on sensible gun policies. They both applaud senators who voted to support comprehensive and enforceable background checks, and urge those who opposed this measure to take a second look.

States on the tour include: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, Wisconsin. For more information, please visit www.NoMoreNames.org.

About Mayors Against Illegal Guns

Since its creation in April 2006, Mayors Against Illegal Guns has grown from 15 members to more than 1,000 mayors from across the country. We have more than 1.5 million grassroots supporters – including more than 106,000 in Pennsylvania – 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.

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[1] Colorado and Delaware enacted legislation in 2013, and did not require background checks during the period analyzed.

[2] U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Supplementary Homicide Reports, 2010.

[3] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Web-Based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) [online]. (2005) [cited 2012 Dec. 20].

[4] Federal Bureau of Investigation. LEOKA Database, 2001-2011 (Accessed Mar. 2013).

[5] Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Firearms Trace Data – 2011, available at http://1.usa.gov/XX2yid

CONTACTS
Alex Katz: [email protected] or 646-324-8245
Stacey Radnor: [email protected] or 202-870-6668
Dave Scholnick: [email protected] or 717-723-8864

SOURCE Mayors Against Illegal Guns