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Do Your Job: Everytown Unveils New Digital Ad Hitting Minnesota Senate Republicans for Blocking Background Check and Red Flag Bills

March 10, 2020

In February, Everytown Announced $60 Million Electoral Program for 2020 — Double What it Spent in 2018

ST. PAUL — Today, Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund unveiled a new digital ad that criticizes Minnesota Republicans for refusing to take up the House-passed background check and red flag legislation. The ad, “Do Your Job,” will be incorporated into Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund’s $250,000 digital advertising effort in Minnesota to put Republican Senators “on notice” and pressure them to pass gun safety legislation this session. The digital ad will target voters statewide, with a focus on suburban women. 

“We worked hard to elect a gun-sense majority in the House and House lawmakers have kept their promise to pass potentially life-saving gun safety measures. But the Senate refuses to listen to Minnesotans and take up these bills,” said Jessica Deweerth, a volunteer with the Minnesota Chapter of Moms Demand Action. “We’re telling our lawmakers to do their job and vote for gun safety, and if they don’t, we’ll vote them out of office.”

Much like in 2019, Senate Republicans are refusing to hold a public hearing on the background check and red flag legislation that just passed the House, notably excluding the bills from a hearing today in the Minnesota Senate Judiciary committee.

“If Senate Republicans are serious about saving lives in Minnesota, they will hold a vote on popular, research-backed measures that are proven to prevent gun violence, like the background checks and red flag bills the House just passed. Claiming to hold a hearing about violence prevention without acknowledging our state’s gun violence crisis and leaving out common-sense gun safety bills that Minnesotans are demanding is partisan politics at its worst,” Deweerth continued.

On average, Minnesota has more than 400 gun deaths every year and gun deaths have increased 18%in the last decade. New voter research shows that voters in Minnesota support stronger gun safety laws by a 5:1 margin.

In 2018, Minnesotans flipped the Minnesota House of Representatives to a gun sense majority and elected Governor Tim Walz (D), who campaigned strongly on the issue of gun safety. Last week, the Minnesota House passed background check legislation and a red flag bill, but the Republican-controlled state Senate refuses to take a vote or hold a public hearing.

The new ad is Everytown’s second digital ad in Minnesota pressuring state legislators to pass common-sense gun bills in 2020 or be voted out of office. In February, Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund and Victory Fund announced it would spend at least $60 million on the 2020 elections and unveiled the first ad campaign targeting Republican lawmakers. 

VIEW THE AD, “DO YOUR JOB” HERE.

The ad text reads:

Minnesotans Demanded Action on Gun Safety The State House Listened and Just Voted Yes on Background Checks and a Red Flag Bill

So Why is the State Senate Blocking These Gun Safety Bills?

Tell Minnesota Senators: Do Your Job. Stop Blocking Gun Safety!

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