On Thursday, April 8 at the Westchester County Courthouse in White Plains, volunteers with Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action joined with Westchester District Attorney Mimi Rocah to host a road trip event as part of Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund’s “Road Trip for Background Checks.”
“Road Trip for Background Checks” is a 10-day series of volunteer-driven road trip events taking place across the country, all headed toward Washington D.C., in order to call for U.S. Senators to pass background check legislation. At stops along seven different routes across the country, a bipartisan group of volunteers, gun violence survivors, gun owners, veterans, faith leaders, and elected leaders will decorate a mural and collect personal stories, photos of people killed by gun violence, and letters to Congress. The mural and messages will be driven or delivered from stop-to-stop, state-to-state, over ten days, and then assembled in Washington D.C. and delivered in person to Senators on Capitol Hill.
New York’s portion of the tour came on April 8, when volunteers, including gun violence survivors, students, will deliver the mural and messages from Westchester and from New York City.
“93% of Americans and more than 85% of Republicans support legislation to expand background checks,” said Rocah. “It’s not a partisan issue. It’s not a political issue. It’s a safety issue.”
Also at the event was Nadine McKenzie, Founder, Shamoya McKenzie Foundation and Randolf Scott, President, Shamoya McKenzie Foundation. Shamoya McKenzie was a promising 13-year old basketball player for Mt. Vernon High School when she was shot and killed by shots fired between gang members when she was a passenger in her mother’s car.
“If they know the feeling I’m going through, they would definitely support the law that we are trying to fight right now about gun law background checks,” Nadine McKenzie said. “Because the pain never goes away when losing a child.”
“Local gun violence intervention programs work, period. By ensuring funding for these community-based programs, our state lawmakers have made a life-saving difference in the communities hit hardest by gun violence. We applaud Governor Andrew Cuomo, Senate Leader Andrea Stewart Cousins, Speaker Carl Heastie, and all our lawmakers for allowing our community partners to continue this fight to end daily gun violence in New York,” said Diane Rinaldo, NY Chapter Moms Demand Action.
