Everytown Announces Ad Spend and Grassroots Event to Hold Senators Cornyn and Cruz Accountable For One Year of Inaction on H.R. 8

In the Year Since the U.S. House Passed H.R. 8––A Bipartisan Bill to Require Background Checks on All Gun Sales––an Estimated 3,200+ Texans Have Been Killed by Guns. But Senators Cornyn and Cruz Have Failed to Act. 

This Week, Everytown and Moms Demand Action Are Holding Senators Accountable for their Inaction and Demanding They Pass Lifesaving Background Checks Legislation

WASHINGTON — Today, Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund and its grassroots network, Moms Demand Action, announced a $84,000 ad campaign to hold Senators Cornyn and Cruz accountable for one year of inaction on H.R. 8––a bipartisan and immensely popular bill to require background checks on all gun sales. The ads will also hold Congressmen Crenshaw, McCaul, and Carter responsible for voting against the bill. 

The campaign is built around February 27, the one year anniversary of the day the U.S. House passed H.R. 8, and will run throughout next week. It will feature digital and print advertising demanding that Senators Cornyn and Cruz pass this life-saving law, and a press conference in Houston featuring students, survivors of gun violence and local U.S. Representatives. 

“In the year since H.R. 8 passed the U.S. House, seven Texans were shot and killed and 25 people were wounded in West Texas by a man who avoided getting a background check because of weak gun laws,” said Hilary Whitfield, volunteer leader with the Texas chapter of Moms Demand Action. “Over the weekend, we saw another awful example of the toll of gun violence in our state, when seven people were injured in a shooting at a family dance. We have no more time to wait for our Senators to take a stand on background checks.”

Senators Cornyn and Cruz have stood in the way of this life-saving legislation, which is designed to close loopholes in our background check system that enable individuals like domestic abusers and convicted felons to buy guns with no background check and no questions asked. Even after last year’s West Texas mass shooting, in which the shooter exploited the very loophole H.R. 8 seeks to close, Senators Cruz and Cornyn have refused to support this bill. Their position mirrors that of the NRA, which has given them both ‘A+’ ratings, featured them at the annual NRA convention, and given money to their reelection efforts. 

Ads are running in the print and digital versions of the Austin American Statesman, San Antonio Express-News, and Houston Chronicle, and additional digital ads are running on Facebook. 

Ad text reads:

“Dear Senators Cornyn and Cruz: 

Over 3,200 Texans have died in the year since the U.S. House passed H.R. 8, a bill to require background checks on all gun sales. 

But you’ve refused to act. 

Meanwhile, Moms Demand Action volunteers have been busy…”

Background checks on all gun sales are proven to save lives and associated with decreased rates of homicide, suicide, and gun trafficking. They are also immensely popular, supported by 93% of American voters, 89% of Republicans, and 87% of gun owners. 

These print and digital ads are a part of a nationwide campaign by Everytown targeted at lawmakers in key states who have failed to support H.R. 8, including U.S. senators and representatives in AZ, GA, IA, KY, CO, PA, and NC. The campaign will also feature grassroots events in several of those states, including one on the steps of Sen. McConnell’s Kentucky office, and voter registration drives led by Students Demand Action across the country.