Key Takeaways:
- Murphy hurried to the Senate floor, visibly distraught, and demanded that senators just doing what they refused to do after the massacre of 26 elementary school students and employees in Newtown, Connecticut, almost a decade ago.
As the latest school massacre unfolded Tuesday in Uvalde, Texas, Connecticut, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy, elected to Congress to represent Sandy Hook, pleaded with his colleagues to finally approve legislation addressing the nation’s gun violence epidemic.
Murphy, visibly shaken, rushed to the Senate floor and asked that senators do what they refused to do after 26 elementary school students and staff were killed in Newtown, Connecticut, almost a decade ago. Since the failure of a bipartisan Senate effort in the aftermath of the tragedy, Congress has been unable to approve significant gun violence legislation.
“What exactly are we doing here?” Murphy was adamant. The Newtown Democrat who served in Congress urged his colleagues to reach an agreement.
“I’ve come down on my hands and knees to implore my colleagues on this floor. Look for a way ahead here. Work with us to pass legislation that makes this less likely, “he stated.
Murphy later told reporters, “I simply don’t see why people here think we’re weak.” “We aren’t.”
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He later told reporters that he was talking with colleagues, including Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, to see whether bipartisan support for gun violence legislation could be found.
Even though Democratic President Joe Biden’s party holds a narrow majority in Congress, legislation to reduce gun violence has been stalled in the Senate due to Republican resistance.
Last year, the House passed two proposals to extend background checks on gun purchases. A bill was introduced that would have closed a loophole for private and internet transactions. The other would have prolonged the review period for background checks.
Both bills stalled in the 50-50 Senate, where Democrats require at least Republican votes to overcome filibuster challenges.
The shooting at Robb Elementary School in Texas on Tuesday appears to be similar to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on Dec. 14, 2012, when a 20-year-old man was shot his way into the locked tower and killed 20 first-graders and six educators with just an AR-15-type rifle that his mother had legally purchased. As the cops arrived, he committed suicide. He had fatally murdered his mother at their Newtown home before coming to school.
According to Connecticut’s child advocate report, the Sandy Hook shooter’s severe and growing mental health problems, fascination with violence, and access to his mother’s firearms “proved a recipe for mass murder,” according to Connecticut’s child advocate report.
The families of 9 Sandy Hook victims settled a $73 million lawsuit against the firearm manufacturer used in the mass massacre in February.
Because of its potential to create a route for victims of previous killings to sue firearm manufacturers, the case against Remington, launched in 2015, was widely monitored by gun control advocates, gun rights supporters, and manufacturers.
Families and survivors said that the corporation should never have supplied such a hazardous weapon to the general public. They’ve stated that their main goal is to avoid future mass shootings by pressuring gun manufacturers to be more responsible with their goods and marketing.
Erica Lafferty, the daughter of Sandy Hook principal Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung, said the time for action had passed.
“After my mother was gunned down in a corridor, thoughts and prayers were ineffective.
They also won’t bring the 15 people killed at SandyHook.
RobbElementaryschool has been resurrected, “She sent out a tweet.
Advocacy groups founded in the aftermath of Sandy Hook also expressed their disappointment.
“We have warned all Americans, such as elected politicians throughout the country, for the past decade that if a mass shooting can happen in Sandy Hook, it can happen anywhere,” stated “Po Murray, chair of the Newtown Action Alliance, in a drafted statement calling for federal and state gun laws to be strengthened.
Murphy admitted that the issue of gun violence would not be resolved quickly.
“I understand that my Republican colleagues may not agree with everything I endorse, but we can find a common denominator,” he remarked. “But by doing anything, we can at least cease providing a quiet message of approval to these killers whose brains are shattering as they watch the highest echelons of government do nothing, shot after killing.”
Source: CTV News
