In the wake of America’s latest massacre, Connecticut U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy held the Senate floor for 14 hours and 50 minutes to rivet the chamber’s and the nation’s attention on the need for “common sense gun control” to address an “epidemic” of carnage.
Murphy began a filibuster at 11:21 a.m. Wednesday. He kept talking until yielding the floor Thursday at 2:11 a.m.
He began and ended by invoking the murder of 20 schoolchildren and six children at Sandy Hook. He listed the other massacres that have become known by the shorthand of the cities where they occurred, from San Bernandino to Orlando.
“For me Orlando was a breaking point,” Murphy told his colleagues. “I looked at myself in the mirror … We couldn’t proceed with business as usual in the Senate this week. We couldn’t do what we have usually done after mass shooting and mass shooting. We couldn’t go on and debate other issues and ignore the fact that the vast majority of Americans, 80 to 90 percent, want us to take action.”
Murphy was seeking votes on two proposals: to bar firearms sales to people on terrorist watch lists; and to expand background checks. He ended the filibuster after receiving a commitment that the votes will take place.
Click here to read Jack Kramer’s CT News Junkie report and here to read Ana Marie Radelet’s coverage of the filibuster in the CT Mirror.
Following are excerpts from Murphy’s filibuster speech, provided by his office:
“I think we can report some very meaningful progress over the course of these 13 hours. When we began this debate on the floor – when we declared that we were not going to move forward on the CJS [Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations] bill without a commitment to talk about what happened in Orlando, to talk about how we fix it – when we began there was no commitment, no plan to debate these measures.
“And it is our understanding that the Republican leader and the Democratic leader have spoken and that we have been given a commitment on a path forward to get votes on the floor of the Senate – on a measure to assure that those on the terrorist watch list do not get guns (the Feinstein amendment), and an amendment introduced by myself and Senator Booker and myself and Senator Schumer to expand background checks to gun shows and to internet sales.
“Now we still have to get from here to there, but we did not have that commitment when we started today. And we have that understanding at the end of the day…
“I have been so angry that this Congress has mustered absolutely no response to mass shooting after mass shooting, in city after city that is plagued by gun violence. I’m not saying we aren’t doing important work but there are 30,000 people dying every year on the streets of this country. And those that they leave behind – their moms and their dads and their little sisters and brothers – don’t get the total indifference that we portray.
“Sandy Hook was three and a half years ago, and Congress hasn’t passed a single measure that would make the next mass shooting, the next murder of kids in this country less likely. The American public have already made up their mind that they want a background check system that captures potential terrorists. They want to make sure that everybody that buys a gun through a commercial sale has to prove that they’re not a criminal before they buy it. The American people have made up their mind.
“So we chose to ask for the two least controversial provisions possible that will still do a world of good. And I’m glad that we are on a path to get those votes. It is a necessary but insufficient response to the carnage that we witness in this country every single day. This is personal to all of us.
“Senator Kaine said it well earlier tonight that we have scar tissue. But it’s razor thin scar tissue compared to those today in Orlando that are living through the catastrophe of losing a 21-year-old son in the prime of his life, of losing a 24-year-old daughter with all of this potential ahead of us.”
Thank you and good work!