Comedian Amy Schumer and her cousin Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) held a news conference today calling for more action from the White House on gun control. A long-time advocate of stricter gun laws, Senator Schumer laid out proposals that he believes will help curb the epidemic of mass shootings in America. Among his recommendations: Incentivize states to share information on felons, domestic abusers and the dangerously mentally ill and increase funding for mental health care.
“What Chuck is describing are sensible measures and restrictions,” Amy Schumer said during the news conference. “No one wants to live in a country where a felon, the mentally ill, or other dangerous people can get their hands on a gun with such ease. The time is now for the American people to rally for these changes.”
This joint effort comes after an open letter to Amy Schumer, originally published on Medium by Sarah Clements of the Human Development Project, began trending on Twitter. In the letter, Clements asked the Trainwreck star to take action after the Louisana shooting that killed three people and injured nine others during a screening of her movie.
On Friday, Senator Schumer gave Fortune’s Jeff John Roberts a preview of today’s announcement, saying that he planned to partner with his comedian “second cousin, twice-removed” to push for stricter gun control legislation.
“I’m the author of the Brady law and the assault weapons ban, so she’s going to help us on that,” Sen. Schumer told Fortune. “So it’ll be Schumer and Schumer.”
