Media Advisory: Pennsylvania State Representatives To Join Gun Violence Prevention Advocates For Women's Roundtable To Discuss Gun Violence

As School Year is About to Begin, Participants Will Discuss How Background Checks Can Help Keep Communities and Children Safe  

Attendees Will Urge Congressman Jim Gerlach to Support King-Thompson Background Check Bill Supported by 88 Percent of Pennsylvanians; Attendees Will Also Thank Congressmen Pat Meehan and Michael Fitzpatrick for Co-Sponsoring King-Thompson

ARDMORE, Pa., Aug. 13, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Pennsylvania state representatives will join local gun violence prevention advocates for a women's roundtable to discuss how background checks can keep communities and children safe in Ardmore on Wednesday. Participants will urge Congressman Jim Gerlach to support the King-Thompson background check bill and will also thank Congressmen Pat Meehan and Michael Fitzpatrick for co-sponsoring the bill. Recent independent polls have found that 88 percent of Pennsylvanians support background checks for all buyers.  

The King-Thompson bipartisan legislation in the U.S. House would close the loopholes that make it easy for criminals and dangerous people to get guns, and is identical to bipartisan legislation in the U.S. Senate introduced by Senators Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) and Pat Toomey (R-PA). It was introduced in April by Representatives Pete King (R-N.Y.) and Mike Thompson (D-CA).

All roundtable attendees are in support of life-saving background checks on gun sales. State Rep. Dean has introduced a bill in the Pennsylvania legislature, HB 1515, to require reporting of lost or stolen firearms.

Event details are below:

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 at www.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