White House hopeful Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) will hit the campaign trail Friday after suspending his campaign following this past weekend’s mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio.
Ryan told BuzzFeed News he plans to return to campaigning on Friday and Saturday at the Iowa State Fair, a longtime staple for presidential campaigns, after joining activists in Louisville, Ky., to pressure Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to take up gun control measures in the Senate.
{mosads}“I’m more inspired than ever to make change,” he told BuzzFeed.
Ryan explained that he wanted to go back to Ohio after the shooting, likening it to a death in the family.
“I wanted to go back to Ohio,” he said. “I just wanted to be back with the community. It’s like if there’s a death in the family you drop everything and go home.”
Ryan, along with several other presidential contenders, has renewed his calls for the Senate to consider gun control reform, saying action must be taken to save lives.
“Mitch McConnell needs to get off his ass and do something,” Ryan said Monday.
“People are getting killed in the streets in America and nobody is acting. There is a bottleneck in the United States Senate. The House has sent a comprehensive background check bill that is supported by 80 to 90 percent of the American people. What the hell are we doing in the United States of America?”
The Ohio Democrat has also slammed a proposal from President Trump to tie legislation expanding background checks to immigration reform.
“That’s an absolute freaking joke that he’s going to tie this to the most polarizing issue happening in the United States today around immigration reform,” Ryan said. “This is very clear-cut: There are people getting access to guns that shouldn’t be and the guns are high-powered, the magazines hold too many bullets.”