Amy Schumer takes a stand against gun violence

Comedian Amy Schumer spoke tearfully of two women who were shot to death during a screening of her movie, Trainwreck and asked lawmakers Monday to support a gun control bill sponsored by her second cousin, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer.

“I’ve thought about these victims each day since the tragedy,” she said at a news conference at the senator’s office in New York. “People say, ‘Well, you’re never going to be able to stop crazy people from doing crazy things,’ but they’re wrong. There is a way to stop them.”

The legislation would try to improve a flawed background check system by creating monetary incentives for states that submit a robust amount of information to the federal database used to block sales to people with criminal records or a history of serious mental illness.

Movie theater gunman John Russell Houser shot 11 people during a screening of the film last month in Lafayette, Louisiana, before then killing himself.

Known best for her humor on women’s sexuality and gender inequality, Amy Schumer was asked by reporters Monday whether she thought Houser purposely picked her film because of his negative views about feminism and liberals.

“I got about a million emails from friends telling me, ‘It could have been any movie,’ and I’m trying to believe that. But I’m not sure,” she said. “I think the idea of women’s equality making anyone upset is not anything I’ll ever understand.”

This story was originally published August 3, 2015 at 4:13 PM with the headline "Amy Schumer takes a stand against gun violence."