Hundreds of men, women and children, including fashion designer Donna Karan, on Saturday marched across Brooklyn Bridge demanding stricter gun laws and offering a litany of violent stories to show why such laws are needed.
Held on the eve of Mother’s Day, the third annual march from Brooklyn to Manhattan was organized by the group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.
“Progress is being made, one day at a time,” said Abbey Clements, a teacher from Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, where an armed attacker killed 20 children and six adults in December 2012.
Photo: AP
Clements said that about 40 percent of all gun sales are completed without a background check. She accused the US Congress of lacking the courage “to vote on their conscience instead of allowing themselves to be bullied by the gun lobby.”
However, she said some states have tightened background check requirements, adding that Connecticut already has strong gun laws, with relatively fewer gun deaths.
The National Rifle Association, the nation’s largest gun rights lobbying group, opposes expanding background checks. The organization said many people sent to prison because of gun crimes get their guns through theft or the black market, and no amount of background checks can stop those criminals.
Legislation that sought to expand background checks to all commercial firearms sales failed to get a hearing in the US House of Representatives last session. With Republicans expanding their House majority and winning control of the US Senate, prospects for the bill might be even more unlikely this session.
Under the current system, cashiers at stores selling guns call in to check with the FBI or other designated agencies to ensure the customer does not have a criminal background. Some lawmakers want to expand such checks to sales at gun shows and purchases made through the Internet.
The US averages more than 80 gun deaths each day, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“We have more gun-related deaths than any other developed country. Gun deaths now outpace traffic fatalities in our country,” US Representative Carolyn Maloney said. “It may take years, it may take decades, but the tens of thousands who senselessly lost their lives at the barrel of a gun will not be forgotten.”
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