WASHINGTON - October 4 - Brady Campaign President Dan Gross today released the following statement in response to the first presidential debate of the 2012 elections, held in Denver, Colorado:

“Members of eight families who lost loved ones in the Aurora theater massacre on Monday joined us and tens of thousands of other Americans in calling on Debate Moderator Jim Lehrer to ask President Obama and Gov. Romney to present solutions to gun violence.

In the midst of their suffering, these families came forward and demonstrated the kind of strength and leadership that we ought to be seeing from all elected officials, including the presidential candidates.

Tonight an opportunity was missed to move our national conversation forward, but we, and the families, know that the conversation has only just begun.

We represent the 87 percent of Americans who want better and stronger policies to prevent gun violence and who believe we are better than a nation where mass shooting tragedies like the one in Aurora happen with such alarming frequency.

We refuse to accept that politics stands in the way of our right to live in a safer nation. In the coming weeks and months, we will continue to press our representatives to do what’s in the best interest and safety of the American people. These families, and the families of those murdered every day by guns, deserve nothing less. They know, we are better than this."