Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said Sunday that serious bipartisan talks are underway in the Senate to come up with new gun laws to prevent mass shootings such as an elementary school in Texas and a grocery store in Buffalo. ,
Democrats said some states have taken the initiative and passed strict gun restrictions in the 10 years since the murder of 20 students and six employees at Connecticut’s Sandy Hook Elementary School, but said federal legislation is needed and they hoped. that “this time is different.”
“I get it. There are talks in Washington every now and then after one of these mass shootings, and they never succeed. But this time there are more Republicans interested in talking about finding a way forward, which I’ve never looked after Sandy Hook,” said Murphy ABC News “This Week”
“Finally, my heart may break. [But] I’m at the table with more Republicans and Democrats this time in a more important way than ever before. Certainly, there are many more Republicans willing to talk now than they were willing to talk after Sandy Hook,” he said. I
Murphy, who delivered an impassioned speech on the Senate floor on Tuesday — said 18-year-old gunman Salvador Ramos after killing 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas — said it was “unthinkable” for him that Congress would take Action on guns after the failed Newtown, CT, killings.
“The pace of everyday gun violence has increased dramatically over the past two years,” he said.
Dick Durbin, the second-highest-ranking Democrat in the Senate, said he hoped fellow lawmakers involved in the bipartisan talks “do the right thing.” He said he also saw room changes inspired by the horrific murder of young students in Texas.
“I can’t say for sure, but I can tell you that I feel a different feeling among my colleagues after Uvalde,” Durbin said. Nation World News’s “State of the Union.”
“Do the right thing and do as much as you can,” he told his colleagues in the conversation.
“And if we can join together on a bipartisan basis and show the American people that what happened in Uvalde was not in vain,” the Illinois poll said.
Although the Senate is on recess for the Memorial Day holiday and not due to return to work until June 6, Democrats led by Murphy are talking with their Republican counterparts to reach some common ground on gun measures.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has said he is ready to support gun-safety legislation following the mass killings in Texas.
GOP Sense. John Cornyn of Texas, Susan Collins of Maine and Thom Tillis of North Carolina have met Murphy.
Murphy has also joined hands with Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who in 2018 as governor of the Sunshine State signed legislation raising the legal age to buy a gun from 18 to 21.
Murphy said the Florida law passed after the mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which killed 17 people, could be a model for the Senate.
“Florida law is a good law. And it’s a sign that what’s possible, isn’t it? It changed Florida’s gun laws with some significant investments in mental health and school safety,” Murphy said on ABC.
The senator said he spoke with Scott last week to learn about the law and how Republican lawmakers in the state defied the National Rifle Association, which opposed the measure.
“So that kind of law is definitely a model,” Murphy said.
“It’s definitely something that will make a big difference and make a lot of families and children in this country feel safer and more secure when it’s passed on to the national level.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has said he will pressure the chamber to vote on two laws passed by the House on expanding background checks for gun purchases.
In the meantime, he is encouraging senators to try to work out a compromise.
Renewed efforts to debate gun-control measures were prompted by outrage over the killing of 19 students and two teachers in Texas on Tuesday, as well as the slaughter 10 days earlier by 18-year-old Peyton Gendron, who killed 10 black people was. At a top friendly market in Buffalo.
Both shooters used AR-15-style assault rifles, as did Adam Lanza in Newtown and Nicolas Cruz in Parkland.
