Media Advisory: ProgressOhio To Bring Together Gun Violence Survivors And Dayton Community Leaders To Ask Senator Portman To Rethink His Vote Against Background Checks

DAYTON, Ohio, May 21, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On Wednesday in Dayton, ProgressOhio, with Mayors Against Illegal Guns, will bring together gun violence survivors, faith leaders, community leaders to ask Senator Rob Portman to take a second look and rethink his vote against life-saving background checks.

Last month, Senator Portman voted against the bipartisan background check legislation sponsored by NRA A-rated Senators Joe Manchin and Pat Toomey – the only bill that would have required background checks for commercial gun sales and improved the background check system. Senator Portman has cited his support for background checks but actually voted for a bill created by the gun lobby and sponsored by Senators Chuck Grassley and Ted Cruz that would have made it easier for the dangerously mentally ill to get guns. More information on Senator Portman's votes, with background on both bills, is available here.

What: ProgressOhio, with Mayors Against Illegal Guns, brings together Newtown and Aurora gun violence survivors, Ohio law enforcement, faith leaders and community leaders to ask Senator Portman to rethink his vote against life-saving background checks

Who: Stephen Barton, survivor of Aurora, CO shooting
Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl
Senior Pastor Rev. Sherry L. Gale, Ph.D of Grace United Methodist Church 
Reverend Doctor William Harris, Jr. of Believers Christian Fellowship Church
Terri Rousseau and Bill Leukhardt, daughter killed in the Newtown, CT shooting
Members of Sisters of the Precious Blood
Carlee Soto, sister killed in the Newtown, CT shooting
Bret Thompson, ProgressOhio 
Dayton City Commissioner Nan Whaley

Where: Dayton Cultural and RTA Center
40 S. Edwin C. Moses Boulevard
Dayton, OH, 45402

When: Wednesday, May 22 at 2 PM

ProgressOhio is statewide multi-issue advocacy organization.

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
Denise Gastesi: [email protected] or 614-562-4768
Kate Downen: [email protected] or 406-224-5056

SOURCE Mayors Against Illegal Guns

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