For Immediate Release
BRADY CAMPAIGN TO PREVENT GUN VIOLENCE
CHALLENGERS WHO CHAMPIONED GUN VIOLENCE PREVENTION VICTORIOUS IN MARYLAND
September 13th , 2006
Contact: Peter Hamm
202-898-0792
Washington, D.C. : Two “comeback kids” who championed gun violence prevention upset both the conventional wisdom and established opponents in Maryland yesterday.
Incumbent Maryland State Senator John Giannetti was unseated by his Democratic primary opponent, former ambassador Jim Rosapepe, who pounded Giannetti for killing the state’s assault rifle ban in a prior session of the legislature. And in an open race for another State Senate seat in Maryland, newcomer candidate Mike Lenett won easily over established state legislators by stressing his support from Sarah Brady. The two candidates were endorsed by both the Brady Campaign and CeaseFire Maryland, Inc.
“I couldn't have won this race without the help of Sarah and Jim Brady and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence,” Rosapepe said. “I'm glad the people of the 21st District support my efforts to get assault weapons off Maryland streets once and for all.”
The Brady Campaign and CeaseFire Maryland, Inc. worked on behalf of both candidates through hard-hitting email campaigns, press events, endorsements, contributions, direct mail and automated phone calls from Sarah Brady.
“The support of Sarah Brady and the Brady Campaign were a great help in my victory,” said Lenett. “The issue of gun violence really matters to voters in my district, especially when it comes to getting deadly assault weapons off our streets.”
The Brady Campaign targeted Senator Giannetti last year, and endorsed Lenett in February.
“Over the past year, we have been focusing on Sen. Giannetti and his opposition to the assault weapons ban. Now he has learned a tough lesson – adopting the gun pushers’ dangerous agenda is not only bad for public safety, it’s bad politics,” said Brady Campaign President Paul Helmke.
Lenett, as Counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and Committee leaders Joseph Biden (D-DE) and Howard Metzenbaum (D-OH) in the early 1990s, was one of the key staff members in the U.S. Senate responsible for securing the votes to pass both the Brady Law and the ban on military-style semiautomatic assault weapons. Sarah Brady and the Brady Campaign endorsed him in February. “To Jim and me, Mike Lenett is family,” said Sarah Brady. “We will never forget how much he did in a historic fight to keep guns out of the hands of criminals.”
In the Maryland race in Senate District 21, Rosapepe consistently hit Giannetti for blocking the assault weapons bill and thus compromising the safety of his constituents. The Brady Campaign announced last year it was naming Senator Giannetti as one of its principal national targets for the 2006 election season in a letter to hundreds of thousands of supporters.
The letter said “We will also punish those state legislators who stand in the way of our legislative priorities… Giannetti killed the state assault weapons ban. Senator Giannetti must pay the price for allowing high-powered killing machines on the streets of Maryland. We will target his race and replace him with someone who will make sensible gun laws a priority.”
“Marylanders are lucky to have Jim Rosapepe and Mike Lenett heading to the Maryland Senate,” Lisa Delity, President of CeaseFire Maryland, Inc said. “They will champion a ban on deadly assault rifles and protect public safety by pushing strong and sensible gun laws in Maryland.”
As the nation's largest, non-partisan, grassroots organization leading the fight to prevent gun violence, the Brady Campaign, working with its dedicated network of Million Mom March Chapters, is devoted to creating an America free from gun violence, where all Americans are safe at home, at school, at work, and in our communities.