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Obama Urges Vote on Bill Named After Hadiya Pendleton

By DNAinfo Staff on March 7, 2013 4:00pm  | Updated on March 7, 2013 4:02pm

 Following the signing of the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, President Obama called on Congress to vote on a gun-trafficking bill that includes a provision named after Hadiya Pendleton.
Following the signing of the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, President Obama called on Congress to vote on a gun-trafficking bill that includes a provision named after Hadiya Pendleton.
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Getty/Alex Wong and family

CHICAGO — President Barack Obama Thursday called on Congress to vote on a gun-trafficking bill that includes a provision named after slain teen Hadiya Pendleton.

After signing the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, Obama praised the Senate Judiciary Committee for sending legislation to the Senate floor "that would crack down on folks who buy guns only to turn around and funnel them to dangerous criminals."

"It’s a bill named, in part, for Hadiya Pendleton, who was murdered in Chicago earlier this year," Obama said at the Interior Department. "You'll remember I told this story about how she had marched in the Inauguration Parade, and just a few weeks later had been gunned down about a mile away from my house."

The Stop Illegal Trafficking in Firearms Act of 2013, whose co-sponsors include Illinois Sens. Mark Kirk (R) and Dick Durbin (D), includes an amendment named after Hadiya that would punish so-called "straw purchasers" who buy guns only to hand them off to criminals.

Among the measure's backers in the House is Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Chicago).

Hadiya, a King College Prep student, was fatally shot in a park just blocks from the school and  Obama's Kenwood home Jan. 29.

Her death became a symbol of urban gun violence. Her parents sat next to First Lady Michelle Obama, who attended Hadiya's funeral, at this year's State of the Union address.

At that event, Obama said Hadiya's parents and other victims of gun violence "deserve a vote" for anti-gun violence measures.

"I urge the Senate to give that bill a vote. I urge the House to follow suit," Obama said Thursday about the bill. "And I urge Congress to move on other areas that have support of the American people — from requiring universal background checks to getting assault weapons off our streets — because we need to stop the flow of illegal guns to criminals, and because Hadiya’s family and too many other families really do deserve a vote."