Comic Amy Schumer calls for better gun control

NEW YORK -- Comedian Amy Schumer spoke tearfully of two women who were shot to death during a screening of her film, "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," she said.

The legislation would try to improve a 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.

Theater gunman John Russell Houser shot 11 people during a screening of the film last month in Lafayette, Louisiana, before killing himself. He bought the gun in Alabama last year after a background check that failed to reveal he had a history of psychiatric problems.

A Georgia judge ordered Houser detained for a mental evaluation in 2008 after relatives claimed he was dangerous.

Sen. Schumer emphasized his bill, which also would create penalties for states that fail to submit records to the database, is about improving the background check system, not putting new restrictions on buyers.

Known best for her humor on women's sexuality and gender inequality, Amy Schumer was asked 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."

She said she's always been in favor of smarter gun laws, but the shootings had made the issue "extremely personal."

Schumer also said she expected backlash for speaking out about guns, but she didn't care.

"I'll handle it the way I've handled it the last 10 years," she said. "I've had death threats and a lot of hate directed toward me. But I want to be proud of the way I'm living and what I stand for."