Connecticut U.S. Senator Chris Murphy, who represented Sandy Hook, begged Congress to pass legislation to address the nation’s gun violence issue as the latest school shooting took place in Uvalde (Texas).
Murphy, a devastated senator, demanded that lawmakers do the same thing they did after 26 educators and students were murdered in Newtown, Connecticut almost ten years ago. Since the collapse of the bipartisan Senate effort, Congress has not been able to pass significant gun violence legislation.
Murphy asked, “What are you doing?” Murphy, a Democrat representing Newtown in the U.S. Congressman’s office, urged his fellow Democrats to reach a compromise.
“I’m here to beg — literally to get down on my knees — to help my colleagues. Here is a way to move forward. He said, “Work with us to find a route to pass laws that make it less likely.”
Murphy said later to reporters, “I don’t get why people here think that we’re powerless.” “We aren’t.”
Afterward, he told reporters that he was working closely with his colleagues, especially Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn, to find bipartisan support for legislation to combat gun violence.
Despite having a slim majority in Congress for Democratic President Joe Biden, gun violence bills have been blocked by the Republican opposition in Congress.
Two bills were passed by the House last year to increase background checks for firearms purchases. One bill would have shut down a loophole that allowed private and online sales. The second would have extended background check review periods.
Both sat in the 50-50 Senate, where Democrats require at least Republican votes to overcome objections by a filibuster.
The tragedy at Robb Elementary School in Texas on Tuesday is similar to Sandy Hook’s shooting. A 20-year old man entered the locked school building Dec. 14, 2012 and shot through it. He then killed 20 first-graders and six educators using an AR-15-type rifle his mother legally bought. As police arrived, he committed suicide. He had previously shot and killed his mother in Newtown before he went to school.
