Tim Ryan Leads ‘Caravan for Change’ Across Ohio with Moms Demand Action

Anthony Gockowski

 

Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH-13) completed a “Caravan for Change” tour Thursday night after traveling through Ohio and parts of Kentucky to call for gun-control legislation.

“Moms Demand Action and I are leading a Caravan for Change to urge Mitch McConnell to vote on gun reform legislation. It’s long overdue. Join us along our Ohio route to the final stop at a rally in Louisville, Kentucky,” Ryan wrote on Twitter early Monday morning before the tour began.

The Ohio congressman and 2020 hopeful posted several video updates to his Twitter page along the way.

“We want legislation passed on universal background checks and closing the Charleston loophole—basic common-sense measures. There’s movement on the ground. We’ve got Republicans coming on board, and we’re making some progress. We can get this done,” Ryan said in one video after finishing a rally in Cincinnati.

Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley attended the rally and posted a statement to Twitter after the event, saying “we will end gun violence.”

Ryan was accompanied on the tour by activists with Moms Demand Action. The caravan kicked off Thursday morning in Niles, making stops in Akron, Columbus, Dayton, Cincinnati, and ending in Louisville, Kentucky.

“We’re going to demand action from Mitch McConnell. Enough is enough,” Ryan said of the Louisville rally.

As The Ohio Star reported Wednesday, dozens of protesters gathered outside McConnell’s home in Louisville Monday night, including one protester who wished the Senate majority leader would just “have a stroke.”

Ryan, however, set the record straight that his rally would not take place at McConnell’s home, but at the Muhammed Ali Center in his hometown.

“Americans are fed up with McConnell blocking common-sense gun reform legislation,” Ryan said.

Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH-03) joined Ryan and Moms Demand Action for their stop in Columbus.

“Proud to stand with Rep. Tim Ryan, Moms Demand Action, Everytown for Gun Safety, and all Central Ohioans to demand Senate Majority Leader McConnell do something to end gun violence,” she wrote on Twitter.

During an appearance on CNN early Thursday morning, Ryan explained why he was leading the caravan.

“It’s been an accumulation over the years. This is all adding up,” Ryan said live from Niles. “You can go back, it’s Parkland, it’s Sandy Hook, it’s Columbine. It’s all of these things over the past 20 years, you know, happened again back-to-back in two iconic American cities, and people in Ohio want to act. So this is about getting Mitch McConnell to pass this legislation.”

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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of Battleground State News, The Ohio Star, and The Minnesota Sun. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Tim Ryan” by John Cranley. 

 

 

 

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