Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) cited the December 14, 2012, Newtown shooting as motivation for a gun control push that would not have prevented the shooting.
Murphy is pushing the criminalization of private gun sales in the Senate. He seeks to accomplish this via universal background checks, which already passed the Democrat-controlled House.
He talked to Rolling Stone about why the gun control push is a “core issue” for him:
I’m an example of what’s wrong, and what’s right, with the anti-gun-violence movement. I didn’t work on this issue at all before it happened in my backyard, in Newtown. But since Newtown I’ve devoted every single day to trying to pass laws to make sure that gun violence is no longer a reality, no matter where you live in this country.
Ironically, universal background checks would have done nothing to prevent the Newtown shooting, as the gunman in that attack stole his firearms, therefore bypassing any point-of-sale regulation. This is why Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) universal background check bill failed in the immediate wake of Newtown; it was evident that the bill would not have prevented the attack.
In fact, Manchin admitted his bill would not have stopped the attack. During an April 14, 2013, Face the Nation appearance he explained his push for universal checks was literally the outgrowth of pressure to do something in response to Newtown, whether the action taken would have prevented Newtown or not.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.