I also feel this more deeply and sort of think about those stories from Sandy Hook in a different way. So, for me, I was one of the few parents of young kids in the Senate. And so, of course, when I process these tragedies and when I think about Sandy Hook, I think about my own kids.Īnd I think about the conversations that my fourth grader was going to have the day after Uvalde with his classmates about what they would do and where they would hide and whether they would smear blood on their face, like the little girl did in Uvalde. And at the time of the Sandy Hook shooting, I had a son who was just a year or two away from going into kindergarten and first grade. What are we doing? chris murphyĪnd listen, this is personal for all of us, but I have a fourth grader. Our kids are living in fear every single time they set foot in the classroom because they think they’re going to be next. Just days after a shooter walked into a grocery store to gun down African-American patrons, we have another Sandy Hook on our hands. I came down from the dais, and I went straight to my desk. And I was both, at the same time, furious and absolutely heartbroken. Obviously, I was just an interloper to their grief. And there was only 20 sets of parents left. And they remember being in the firehouse, as it emptied out. They look at those images of the parents waiting outside the school. You have to realize that Sandy Hook never recovered and will never recover.Īnd those parents are forced to relive that nightmare, right, when something like Uvalde happens. And I just, first and foremost, think about the parents in Sandy Hook when a shooting like this happens, I mean, especially Uvalde, which was so tragically reminiscent of Sandy Hook. I was sitting in the vice president’s chair on the dais when I learned that this was a shooting of scope similar to Sandy Hook. Well, I was actually presiding over the Senate. So can you describe what was going through your head? chris murphy And you ended up on the Senate floor a few minutes after it happened. That was, of course, the day of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. So I wanted to go back just a couple of weeks to May 24th. You represent the state of Connecticut, which is where the US first experienced a mass shooting at an elementary school. But first of all, I wanted to understand how this deal was reached and your role in it. So I want to get to the deal that you and your Republican colleagues made over the past few weeks.
Today, I spoke with the senator who’s at the center of those negotiations, Chris Murphy of Connecticut, about how the deal was reached, how meaningful it actually is, and what it reveals about a new strategy for gun control. And another provision - sabrina tavernise There’s funding for mental health, school safety funding, a provision addressing the, quote, “boyfriend loophole” on domestic violence. There’s also enhanced background checks for 18 to 21-year-olds in this country. There are going to be incentives for states to implement red flag laws that deny guns to people deemed a risk to themselves or others. The Senate has reached a bipartisan deal on gun safety that could put Congress on a path to the most significant federal response to gun violence in decades. This is “The Daily.”ĭemocrats and Republicans doing what almost no one thought they could - reaching a deal on guns. Tuesday, June 14th, 2022 sabrina taverniseįrom “The New York Times,” I’m Sabrina Tavernise. Transcript Senator Chris Murphy on the Bipartisan Gun Safety Deal The lawmaker at the center of the effort explains how the proposal came together and what changes it would make.