Amy Schumer Speaks Out About Gun Control Following Tragic Theater Shooting in Louisiana

The fatal shooting in Lafayette took place during a screening of Schumer's 'Trainwreck,' a fact which Schumer says makes gun control "very personal."

Image via TBS

As the national debate on the growing necessity for gun control reform reaches even greater heights in the wake of the recent theater shooting in Lafayette, Louisiana and the Charleston Church Massacre, politicians and public figures of all varieties are banding together to hopefully inspire the push for proper legislation. Amy Schumer, whose film Trainwreck served as the unfortunate backdrop to John Russel Houser's Lafayette shooting in July, has joined forces with her cousin — Senator Charles Schumer of New York — to introduce a new public initiative aimed at increasing the difficulty of obtaining firearms for criminals and those with a history of mental health issues.

"These shootings have got to stop,” Amy Schumer told reporters during a press conference on Monday. “I don’t know how else to say it. I’m not sure why this man chose my movie to end those two lives and injure nine others, but it was very personal for me. We always find out how the shooter got their gun and it’s always something that never should have happened in the first place.” According to Variety, the initiative is comprised of a three-part plan including legislation that would actively "reward states that submit comprehensive records into background check systems with funding," while penalizing those that do not.

As previously reported, the recent outbreak of shootings is merely indicative of a much larger and profoundly unsettling problem in the United States. Though America is only responsible for just under 5% of the world's population (7.13 billion as of 2012), the country possesses (at least) 42% of the world's 644 million guns. The disparity is obvious.

 

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