Friday on CNN’s “Newsroom,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) partially blamed Congress for the tragic murder broadcast live on television of WDBJ journalists, 24-year old Alison Parker and 27-year old Adam Ward, arguing they have not passed gun control legislation, which makes Congress complicit.
Murphy said, “I think change is going to happen. I just don’t think that democracy can work with when you have 90 percent of the American public that want changes in our gun laws and Congress not responding. It may take a series of elections before we get there, but I think there’s clear momentum towards a comprehensive look at how we reduce violence, and the fact of the matter is that it has to be comprehensive. You can’t just change our gun laws. yes, we should have these dangerous weapons off the street. Criminals shouldn’t get guns. But we also have a broken mental health system and that deserves fixing as well and we shouldn’t wait to do all of it at one time. If we can’t get the gun laws change because of the NRA control of Congress right now then let’s fix the mental health system. We should be starting this process now because it’s an absolute stain on this nation that there have been more mass shootings this year than there have been days in the year. We shouldn’t accept that in Congress.”
He continued, “I’m talking about the entirety of Congress, especially those that have stood in the way of common sense gun measures like expanded background checks or reforms to our mental health system. The fact is when our leadership in congress stands up and says we can’t do anything, they are absolutely wrong, And I believe that we have become complicity in these murders because people listen to highest levels of government and when we say nothing about it, when we don’t even attempt to change the laws to try to stop this mass slaughter, then people get some signal that it’s okay so settle their grievances or to deal with their illness through gun violence.”
“I just don’t accept we can do nothing and I’m speaking directly to the Republican leadership of the House and the Senate. They should be bringing anti-gun violence bills to the Floor that can get consensus votes this fall or the Congress is complicit in these murders,” he added.