CHARLOTTE, N.C., June 13, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Gun owners, community activists and concerned citizens will join together in a day of remembrance and a call to action in Charlotte, Wilmington and Durham Fridayto 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 their representatives in Congress 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 90 percent of North Carolina residents support background checks for all gun sales.
Event details are below:
Charlotte
What: We Stand With Newtown Rally; Calling on Representative Robert Pittenger to Support the King-Thompson Compromise Bill
Who: Suzanne Conway, Kamaria Lawrence, Teacher, Organizing For Action, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, Peace/Action and Mayors Against Illegal Guns
Where: West Charlotte Recreation Center, 2401 Kendall Drive Charlotte, NC 28216.
When: Friday, June 14, 11:00 AM
Wilmington
What: We Stand With Newtown Rally; Calling on Representative Mike McIntyre toSupport the King-Thompson Compromise Bill
Who: Bert Blake, Hunter and Gun Owner, and Mayors Against Illegal Guns.
Where: In front of the Federal Building, 2 Princess St, Wilmington, NC 28401
When: Friday, June 14, 10:30 AM
Durham
What: We Stand With Newtown Rally; Calling on Representative G.K. Butterfield toSupport the King-Thompson Compromise Bill
Who: Jim Clark, gun owner, and Gavin O'Hara, Dad's Chapter of Moms DemandAction for Gun Sense in America, Organizing for America, North CaroliniansAgainst Gun Violence, Forward Americans, and Mayors Against Illegal Guns
Where: Outside Representative Butterfield's District Office, 411 W. Chapel Hill Street,Suite 905 Durham, NC 27701
When: Friday, June 14, 10:30 AM
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 atwww.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org
MEDIA CONTACT
Kate Downen: kdownen@maig.org or 406-224-5056
Jack Warner: jwarner@maig.org or 914-575-1090
SOURCE Mayors Against Illegal Guns
