WASHINGTON - February 11 - As part of a grassroots effort leading up to the President’s State of the Union speech on Tuesday, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence will today deliver copies of petitions to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, with almost 35,000 signatures which were collected in just 48 hours last week. 

“We want to send the message to Congress that there is overwhelming support throughout the country for the President’s comprehensive package of proposals to end the epidemic of gun violence,” said Dan Gross, President of the Brady Campaign.  “We hope and expect President Obama to again affirm his support for swift action in his State of the Union speech.  His leadership has been inspiring and we hope the Congress heeds the call of these 35,000 Americans who signed our petition in just 48 hours.”

The petition is in response to the testimony of NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre, who in his testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee recently, asserted that the NRA leadership opposes universal background checks. 

The petition states, “A failure? Since passage of the Brady Law, over 1.9 million criminals and other prohibited people have been stopped from purchasing firearms from gun shops. We call that progress!”

The petitions are being delivered by Brady Campaign member and Virginia Tech shooting survivor Colin Goddard.