在震惊全国的大规模枪击事件发生后，枪支安全组织“妈妈要求行动”和“学生要求行动”周四来到美国国会大厦，向参议员施压，要求通过陷入僵局的枪支相关立法。
“妈妈要求行动”的创始人香农·沃茨向国会议员传达了一个信息:做好你的工作。
在接受美国广播公司新闻采访时，瓦茨说，“我们只有在枪支法律最薄弱的最近的州才是安全的，因为全国一半的州没有枪支销售的背景调查。”
2022年5月26日，母亲要求行动创始人香农·沃茨在国会大厦外的集会上发表讲话。
诺亚·米妮/ABC新闻
香农说，众议院已经完成了通过枪支改革的工作。她说，“参议院必须着手处理并通过这些立法。”。“我不知道在我们最近发生的所有枪击悲剧之后，你怎么能不采取行动。”
Erica Lafferty说，德克萨斯州小学大规模枪击事件的一切都让她想起了她失去母亲的那一天，她说，2012年，在美国历史上最致命的校园枪击事件中，她作为桑迪胡克小学的校长，在保护她的学生时牺牲了。
“我想离开，不想公开处理这件事，所以我离开了。五分钟。直到我听到我母亲的声音在我脑海里说，我不能坐以待毙，”拉弗蒂说。
“现在是行动的时候了。采取行动的时间是十年前，当时我妈妈在一所小学的大厅里被枪杀，”她说。
在国会努力通过枪支改革立法之际，康涅狄格州的民主党参议员克里斯·墨菲(Chris Murphy)、明尼苏达州的艾米·克洛布查尔(Amy Klobuchar)、康涅狄格州的理查德·布卢门撒尔(Richard Blumenthal)、马萨诸塞州的埃德·马基(Ed Markey)、加利福尼亚州的亚历克斯·帕迪拉(Alex Padilla)、纽约州的柯尔斯顿·吉利布兰德(Kirsten Gillibrand)、罗德岛州的谢尔登·怀特豪斯(Sheldon Whitehouse)和特拉华州的众议员丽莎·布朗特·罗切斯特(Lisa Blunt Rochester)也参加了集会。
尽管民意调查显示大多数美国人表示支持改革，如普遍背景调查和红旗法，共和党议员历来阻止这些提案成为法律。鉴于参议院50-50的分裂，民主党人面临着一场艰苦的战斗，需要他们代表团的所有成员加上10名共和党参议员支持这项立法。
代表们已经在众议院通过了枪支改革立法，旨在扩大对所有枪支销售的背景调查;然而，自2021年以来，这些提案一直在参议院搁置。
现在，一个由两党参议员组成的小组正在开始新一轮谈判，墨菲担任民主党方面的首席谈判代表。此前，在乌瓦尔德小学枪击案和纽约水牛城超市大规模枪击案发生后，人们再次呼吁限制获得枪支。
“我想澄清一点——这不是邀请无限期谈判。对此不要有任何误解。如果这些谈判在短时间内没有结果，参议院将对枪支立法进行投票，”参议院多数党领袖查克·舒默周四在参议院表示。
缅因州共和党参议员苏珊·科林斯和佛罗里达州共和党参议员里克·斯科特告诉美国广播公司新闻国会记者雷切尔·斯科特，部分讨论集中在“红旗”法律上，该法律允许对被认为对自己或他人构成危险的个人实施特别保护令，允许执法部门从他们手中没收武器。
众议院多数党领袖马里兰州的斯泰尼·霍耶周三在推特上说，众议院将对众议员露西·麦克巴斯提出的一项法案采取行动。在六月的第一周，当立法者从休会期返回时，创建一个联邦红旗法。
谈判进行之际，参议院定于周四下午休会10天。尽管休息，议员们希望谈判将继续进行，并达成一项两党协议。
“坦率地说，有时在华盛顿以外解决这些问题比我们在这里更容易，”墨菲在国会大厦外告诉记者。
6月11日,“为我们的生活而游行”组织将举行示威，要求采取行动，预计华盛顿将出现更大规模的抗议活动。
Gun control advocacy groups rally at Capitol, urge senators to pass reform
In the wake of mass shootings that have rocked the nation, the gun safety groups Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action came to the U.S. Capitol on Thursday to pressure senators to pass stalled gun-related legislation.
Moms Demand Action founder Shannon Watts had a message for members of Congress: Do your job.
In an interview with ABC News, Watts said "We're all only as safe as the closest state with the weakest gun laws because half of the country's states don't have background checks on gun sales."
The House has done its job in passing gun reform, Shannon said. "The Senate just had to take up those pieces of legislation and pass them," she said. "And I don't know how you don't act after all of the shooting tragedies we've had lately."
Erica Lafferty said everything about the Texas elementary school mass shooting reminds her of the day she lost her mother, who she says died protecting her students as principal of Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012 during the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.
"I wanted to step away and not deal with it publicly, so I did. For five minutes. Until I heard my mother's voice in my head saying that I cannot sit this one out," Lafferty said.
"The time to act is now. The time to act was ten damn years ago when my mom was gunned down in the hall of an elementary school," she said.
The rally was joined by Democratic Sens. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Alex Padilla of California, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, and Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware as Congress works to pass gun reform legislation.
Thoughpolls showa majority of Americans have signaled support for reforms such as universal background checks and red flag laws, Republican lawmakers have historically blocked those proposals from becoming law. Given the 50-50 split in the Senate, Democrats face an uphill battle, needing all members of their delegation plus 10 Republican senators to support the legislation.
Representatives have already passed gun reform legislation in the House aimed at expanding background checks on all gun sales; however, those proposals have been stalled in the Senate since 2021.
Now, a bipartisan group of senators is beginning a new round of negotiations, with Murphy serving as the lead negotiator on the Democratic side, after renewed calls to curb access to guns in the wake of the Uvalde elementary school shooting and New York's mass shooting in a Buffalo supermarket.
"I want to be clear -- this is not an invite to negotiate indefinitely. Make no mistake about it. if these negotiations do not bear fruit in a short period of time, the Senate will vote on gun legislation," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor Thursday.
Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Rick Scott of Florida told ABC News Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott part of the discussion is focused on "red flag" laws that would allow a special protection order to be enacted on individuals deemed to be a danger to themselves or others, permitting law enforcement to remove weapons from their possession.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland tweeted Wednesday the House will move on a bill proposed by Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Ga., to create a federal red flag law when its lawmakers return from recess in the first week of June.
The negotiations come as the Senate was set to leave Thursday afternoon for a 10-day recess. Despite the break, lawmakers are hopeful negotiations will continue and a bipartisan agreement could be reached.
"Frankly, sometimes it's easier to work those issues outside of Washington rather than when we're here," Murphy told reporters outside the Capitol.
A much larger protest is expected in Washington when the group March for Our Lives holds a demonstration demanding action on June 11.
