Everytown Announces Ad Spend to Hold Senator McSally 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–– more than 1,000 Arizonans Have Been Killed by Guns. But Sen. McSally and Her Colleagues have Failed to Act.
 
This Week, Everytown and Moms Demand Action Are Holding Sen. McSally and Her Senate Colleagues 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 campaign to hold Senator Martha McSally 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 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 Sen. McSally pass this life-saving law. 

“This life-saving legislation has been gathering dust in the U.S. Senate for an entire year,” said Kara Waite, a volunteer with the Arizona chapter of Moms Demand Action. “Senator McSally has had more than enough opportunities to vote for gun safety and instead she’s stood against common-sense gun laws that would protect Arizonans. This week, we’re sending a message to Sen. McSally: your inaction is unacceptable, and Arizonans are taking note.”

H.R. 8 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. In 2018 alone, there were 54,172 ads on Armslist.com in Arizona for firearm sales that would not require a background check. Worse still, one in nine would-be buyers on the site would have failed a background check. 

Senator McSally has not only failed to support background checks on all gun sales, but when she ran for Congress in 2012, she called any effort to close background check loopholes “absolutely unconstitutional.” That inaction comes with a body count: every year in Arizona, more than 1,000 people are killed with guns and thousands more are shot and wounded. 

The print ad will run in Sunday’s Arizona Republic, and the digital ads will run on Facebook.

VIEW SAMPLE PRINT ADS HERE. 

Sample ad text reads:

“Dear Senator McSally:  

Over 1,000 Arizonans 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, NC, PA, and TX. 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.