WASHINGTON (AP) – A Democratic senator on Wednesday launched a filibuster to force a vote on gun control legislation three days after 49 people were killed at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy said he would remain on the Senate floor “until we get some signal, some sign that we can come together,” as he also evoked the Newton school shooting in his state in 2012. His plea came as presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was meeting with the National Rifle Association about the terror watch list and gun purchases.
“For those of us that represent Connecticut, the failure of this body to do anything, anything at all in the face of that continued slaughter isn’t just painful to us, it’s unconscionable,” Murphy said.
Twenty children and six educators died in the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012. Murphy said he cannot look into the eyes of those children’s relatives and tell them that Congress has done nothing since.
The election-year fight over gun control pits strong proponents of the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms against lawmakers arguing for greater restrictions on the ability to obtain weapons. Since the Sunday morning shooting in Orlando, Democrats have revived their push for legislation.