Sandy Hook Senator Wants To Know How Many More People Will Die Before ‘Complicit’ GOP Acts

Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal took to the airwaves on Wednesday to voice his frustration at Congress for refusing to act after repeated mass shootings.

In an interview with Chris Matthews, Blumenthal – who represents the Senate where Sandy Hook Elementary is – openly wondered when will enough lost lives be enough for the “complicit” Republican Congress to do something.

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Blumenthal said:

We are approaching I hope the tipping point when our nation will be affected and Congress will be mobilized by the same kinds of images and the fact that 90 people every day perish from gun violence. It isn’t just the mass shootings. This one is the 18th school shooting just this year. But also the day by day deaths that are preventable and we have an obligation to prevent. Congress has been complicit. Congress bears responsibility.

Blumenthal’s remarks came after his fellow Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy took to the floor of the U.S. Senate following Wednesday’s deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida, to remind his Republican colleagues that “this happens nowhere else other than the United States of America.”

Gun violence is particularly personal to these two men given that the devastating tragedy at Sandy Hook took place in their state. They had to personally grieve with the family members of the 20 children and six educators that were taken in that 2012 tragedy.

But it shouldn’t have to happen to somebody in your state or your city or your family in order to support concrete actions to prevent it. As Sen. Blumenthal said on Wednesday, 90 people die gun-related deaths each day, in big cities and small towns, all across the United States. That should matter to any lawmaker who has an ounce of compassion.

The United States is the only advanced country in the world that sees this level of gun violence, and the NRA-owned Republican Party is directly responsible for that.

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.