‘Silence Is No Longer An Option’: Chris Murphy To Introduce New Gun Safety Legislation

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Following the deadly mass shooting in Las Vegas that took the lives of at least 59 people and injured more than 500, Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut said on Monday that “silence is no longer an option.”

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“This is gonna keep happening over and over again, and I know the answer can’t be that we are powerless as a body to do something about it,” Murphy said.

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Murphy said:

This is a growing fraternity – a tragic, awful fraternity: members of Congress who represent states who have gone through these horrific mass executions. … But this silence has become unintentional endorsement. It’s become a kind of sick complicity. And I hope that in the coming days, we can come together – Republicans and Democrats – to start talking about, at the very least, some baby steps to show the people of Las Vegas, to show the people of Orlando, to show my constituents, my friends in Sandy Hook, that silence is no longer an option.

Murphy, who has become a champion of this issue since tragedy struck Newtown in 2012, plans to introduce anti-gun violence legislation very soon.

“I’ll be introducing a new background checks bill shortly,” Murphy said on Monday, according to The Hill.

Like previous proposals, the legislation would likely expand background checks to include all gun purchases, whether they’re made at gun shows or over the internet.

It is something that 90 percent of the country supports, but NRA-funded Republicans have blocked it in recent years.

Legislation like this would only be a baby step, as Murphy said on the Senate floor on Monday, but it’s a step in the right direction and could lay the groundwork for more legislation to address the uniquely American gun violence crisis.

Sean Colarossi

Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.