Sister Of Newtown Victim, Law Enforcement, And Elected Officials To Hold Rally In Pittsburgh To Thank Senators Toomey And Casey For Supporting Common-sense Background Checks

Participants Set To Praise Toomey and Casey for Standing With 88 Percent of Pennsylvanians Who Support Background Checks, Urge Congress to Follow Their Lead

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

***MEDIA AND EVENT ADVISORY***

PITTSBURGH, Aug. 14, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On Friday, August 16th, the sister of a victim of the Newtown massacre, Pittsburgh's Acting Police Chief Regina McDonald, State Representative Ed Gainey, and other local advocates will hold a rally in Pittsburgh 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. Participants will come together Friday to thank Senators Pat Toomey and Bob Casey for taking the lead on common-sense background check legislation in April, and they will urge the rest of Congress – including Representative Tim Murphy – to support this life-saving measure.

The event is being organized by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a bipartisan coalition of more than 1,000 mayors and 1.5 million grassroots supporters nationwide – including more than 200 member mayors and 106,000 grassroots supporters in Pennsylvania.

This past April, Senator 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 but has failed to receive support from Congressman Murphy.

Every day, 33 Americans are murdered with guns in this country. "No More Names: National Drive to Reduce Gun Violence" is part of Mayors Against Illegal Guns' ongoing, national effort to continue raising awareness to the issue of gun violence in America – and most importantly, to urge elected officials to prioritize the safety of the people they represent.

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

CONTACTS
Alex Katz: [email protected] or 646-324-8245
Joy Cameron: [email protected] or 505-681-0303
Dave Scholnick: [email protected] or 717-723-8864

SOURCE Mayors Against Illegal Guns