Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) posted an anti-2A speech to social media this week that went viral in the wake of the school shooting in Oxford, Michigan that left three dead and eight others wounded.
During his screed on the Senate floor, Sen. Murphy called out his Republican colleagues for their putative hypocrisy when it comes to being pro-life but anti-gun control.
“Do not lecture us on the sanctity and importance of life when 100 people every single day are losing their lives to guns. When kids go to school fearful that they won’t return home because a classmate will turn a gun on them when it is in our control whether this happens,” he exclaimed.
SEE ALSO: Academics Find School Shootings Are Not More Common Than They Used to Be
“You care about life? Then get these dangerous military-style weapons off the streets, out of schools,” he continued. “You care about life? Make sure that criminals don’t get guns by making sure that everyone goes through a background check in this country.”
Driving home tonight, I thought about Republicans’ floor speeches today on the “sanctity of life”.
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) December 1, 2021
And how this concern for “life” apparently doesn’t extend to the kids who were shot today in a school in Michigan.
So I turned the car around, and went to the Senate floor. pic.twitter.com/yJ8FthS0nE
Murphy went on to posit that Congress’ inaction may be seen by those with homicidal ideations as a wink and a nod to take innocent lives.
“Make no mistake about it, there is a silent message of endorsement sent to would-be killers, sent to individuals whose brains are spiraling out of control when the highest levels of the US Government does nothing shooting after shooting,” he argued.
“Somewhere in these broken brains, they have convinced themselves that they can right perceived wrongs by firing a gun into a crowd,” said Murphy. “When Congress, the highest, most important, most powerful leaders in the land do nothing shooting after shooting you can understand why those broken brains imply that as endorsement.”
Hardened criminals and those with broken brains don’t care what the law says. The 15-year-old allegedly responsible for the shooting in Michigan stole the handgun he used to perpetrate the attack from his father.
The existing laws on the books that outlaw gun theft and murder did nothing to deter this troubled teen. Sen. Murphy suggests that more federal laws might’ve made a difference, specifically universal background checks and a ban on modern sporting rifles.
SEE ALSO: Bloomberg-Funded Study Finds that ‘Assault Weapon’ Bans Don’t Stop Mass Shootings
But clearly, those policies wouldn’t have done jack in this Michigan case. As mentioned, the kid absconded with his dad’s pistol, per reports. No long gun of any make or model was used.
Which raises questions about the efficacy of gun control to deal with these rare but tragic events. Even dispassionate academics, those with no dog in the fight over gun rights, have similar concerns when evaluating the impact of criminalizing private transfers and outlawing AR-15s on mass killings.
To quote a 2021 policy brief, entitled “Policy Solutions to Address Mass Shootings,” published by the Rockefeller Institute of Government, “Most gun laws that we examined, including assault weapon bans, do not appear to be causally related to the rate of mass public shootings.”
Not to mention the downside of imposing such restrictions on law-abiding citizens. Broadly speaking, gun control impairs one’s ability to protect oneself both from individual assailants and from government tyranny.
All this to say that if we were to follow Sen. Murphy’s advice, not only are we not doing anything material to address mass shootings in this nation but we’re also making it harder for law-abiding citizens to exercise their fundamental right to self-defense.
The central theme that runs through all gun control is a lack of control of those that committed crimes with guns. They fail to understand it or Care that a gun is an inadamant object that is as incapable of acting on its own just like a hammer, screw driver or axe. I could set a loaded gun on a table and it would never shoot anyone or commit a crime. Idiots that lack the ability to understand the basic logic of their actions. Grade school kids have more understanding of the subject than elected officials.
So much projection as usual from leftists. Their hatred and affinity for violence, however contained for the moment, is always projected onto everyone– as if everyone has the same dementia trait as the leftist brain.
No liberal has said anything about disarming honest law abiding citizens. Gun Control does not mean Gun Confiscation. Why do the Conservatives keep ranting about TAKING YOUR GUNS AWAY? FEAR. This is their MO. I will gladly register all my guns if it saves one life. I buy a hunting license every year so the government already knows I have a gun. Haven’t suffered any repercussions from that. I am 65 years old and there have been more mass shooting in the last ten years than in the previous 55 years of my life. Wake up America. Use some common sense and leave the politics out of it.
Well Joseph, I believe the list of so-called liberals disarming honest law abiding citizens is much too long to quote in response here. And your claim of the increase of mass shootings in last ten years demonstrates your unseriousness regarding this issue. Ideology is not a substitute for fact. But do continue to buy a hunting license. Most states utilize those funds in a positive fashion in relation to game resources.
For being 65 you are very ignorant. Demonrats have been pushing gun registration and confiscation for years, that’s why they keep pushing for more unconstitutional gun control laws..Show me any city or state that has massive gun control laws and they’ve reduced crime or unlawful shootings? Let’s look at chitcongo which has very strict gun laws..14 homicides this month so far, 802 YTD with almost 4300 people shot this year..With that being said more gun control laws will not do squat!!
Your comment (and your thought process) are exactly why I went from often voting blue to very rarely or never nowadays – most dems seem to not understand the difference between emotion and logic, often claiming ‘common sense’ solutions to problems with no proof or research done that would back up any of their claims. The broken record canned responses like ‘no liberal has ever said anything about disarming law abiding citizens’ is 100% BS as well but instead of doing a little of your own research you parrot the lies that the left wing media has told you and take it as gospel. Wouldn’t an assault weapons ban do exactly this? Do you think criminals are going to turn in their guns?!? Hell, there’s a link to an article on the same page as this one debunking your ‘more mass shootings’ claim as well but like the vast majority of the left (and being an engineer who thoroughly researches and proves every thing I do for my career or I’d be fired I have a huge issue with this) you probably wouldn’t care if gun control made a 0% reduction in shootings it’s ‘common sense’ that passing more laws = less crime, right? Isn’t murder already the most illegal thing you can do? Basing your thoughts and actions (and pushing for legislation) on anything other than fact-based thoroughly reviewed research oftentimes leads to far worse outcomes than the initial problem would’ve ever produced – it wasn’t that many years ago that the Salem witch trials happened…it was a commonly held fact that witchcraft was real then and many innocent people lost their lives because of this but a little bit of logic and fact gathering can go a long way.
Failure to enact term limits is the endorsement of political corruption.
I finally get it. Criminals are waiting to see what feckless, weak-kneed politicians are going to do before continuing their crime sprees. I suggest waiting and doing nothing. Maybe the criminals will all forget what they were doing and get jobs instead.
That is the reason i left the state of connecticut is people like him.
Connecticut is a suburb of NYC (minus the diversity).
Unfortunately, Senator Murphy’s emotions cloud his ability to see what has failed to protect the children.
The murderer was not the gun. It was the deranged teen with an illegal weapon in a gun-free school. The school failed miserably to protect the children by allowing the shooter to bring in the gun. That said, all other weapons must be banned in schools for that matter. Weapons detectors, trained protective/armed personnel should protect the children at all entry points. Guns and knives do not walk or move by themselves. Senator Murphy should never have been elected, not if he can only see the guns as the murders. There are more than enough guns in America to end all of our lives if they(guns) want to. I suggest Senator Murphy to get a grip on himself. He should think about supporting legislations to better protect school children instead of arguing how to wrestle guns away from all Americans.
Actually electing democrats is the true endorsement of killers!
Name a bigger baby killer party.