Everytown For Gun Safety Action Fund Announces Nearly $200,000 in Targeted Ads to Highlight Senate’s Shocking Inaction on Gun Safety and Push Senators to Act

NEW YORK — Today, Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a part of Everytown, highlighted the U.S. Senate’s failure to pass legislation to require background checks on all gun sales and a strong red flag law, announcing a nearly $200,000 digital advertising push aimed at key Republican senators over the October recess, along with in-state events. The ads address senators directly, telling them, “Inaction is unacceptable. The time for gun safety is now.”

The efforts follow an unprecedented $1,000,000 August recess push that included digital and TV and more than 100 rallies covering all 50 states.

“The Senate’s inaction on gun safety has a body count, and the gun safety movement will not stand silent while lawmakers try to run out the clock,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “Everytown is committed to amplifying the voices of the growing majority of Americans who are demanding background check and red flag laws — and who will hold accountable those lawmakers who defy the people’s will.”

“Our Senators are hiding behind rhetoric while our children are hiding under their desks,” said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. “We need our Senators to take a vote to end this crisis. If they don’t, we will take their jobs.”

Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund’s October spending includes:

• Nearly $200,000 on newspaper homepage takeovers in the in-state papers of Senator Cory Gardner in Colorado, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in Kentucky, Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott in Florida, Senators Johnny Isakson and David Perdue in Georgia, Senators Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley in Iowa, Senators Richard Burr and Thom Tillis in North Carolina, Senator Rob Portman in Ohio, Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz in Texas, Senator Lamar Alexander in Tennessee, and Senator Mitt Romney in Utah.
• View the ads here.

It follows Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund’s August spending, which included:

• $550,000 on digital ads targeting Senator Cory Gardner in Colorado, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in Kentucky, Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott in Florida, Senators Johnny Isakson and David Perdue in Georgia, Senators Richard Burr and Thom Tillis in North Carolina, Senator Rob Portman in Ohio, Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz in Texas, Senator Lamar Alexander in Tennessee, and Senator Mitt Romney in Utah.
• $385,000 on national cable and local broadcast ads targeting Senators Cory Gardner, Marco Rubio, Rick Scott and Mitch McConnell. The Florida ads included Spanish language spots.
• $65,000 to support more than 100 rallies taking place in all 50 states during a national Weekend of Action.

In February, the U.S. House of Representatives passed bipartisan legislation to require background checks on all gun sales. The House is also in the process of advancing a strong red flag law that would provide critical federal grant funding for the seventeen states with red flag laws, incentivize states to pass red flag laws, and create a red flag process available in federal courts in all fifty states To date, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has refused to hold a vote on either background checks or red flag legislation.