Oprah Asks Senator Chris Murphy, “What Will It Take to Change Gun Laws?”
Oprah Asks Senator Chris Murphy, “What Will It Take to Change Gun Laws?”
In a conversation for Oprah Daily, the senator from Connecticut says, “The only place safe guns laws are controversial is in Washington.”
Hours after the horrific shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, Senator Chris Murphy from Connecticut took to the Senate floor with an emotional plea, saying:
"What are we doing? Why do you spend all this time running for the United States Senate? Why do you go through all the hassle of getting this job, of putting yourself in a position of authority, if your answer is, as the slaughter increases, as the kids run for their lives, we do nothing. What are you doing? Why are you here? If not to solve a problem as existential as this? This isn’t inevitable. These kids weren’t unlucky. This only happens in this country and nowhere else. Nowhere else do kids go to school thinking they might be shot that day."
It summed up what so many of us were thinking: How, in the United States of America, do we keep getting this so wrong?
Senator Murphy was elected a month before 20 first graders and six educators were gunned down in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. I remember thinking at the time, This will change things. Babies being killed at school will finally bring people to their senses and force us to pass sensible gun laws.
Ten years later, here we are again. Nineteen children, full of promise and hope, and two teachers who had dedicated their lives to enriching the minds of young people were murdered in their classroom. With the pain and frustration of this new tragedy still fresh in our collective minds and hearts, I reached out to Senator Murphy to try and make sense of it all.
We spoke about the fact that we are at a tipping point in this country and that the time for thoughts and prayers is over. We must take action to stop these senseless killings. The senator told me he has a long list of things he'd like to see happen, including the banning of assault weapons and the enforcing of universal background checks. These incremental steps can help ensure that dangerous people do not get guns.
But what will finally get through to the politicians who are holding up the passing of safe gun laws? Senator Murphy says, "As long as my colleagues can stand on the sidelines and get reelected, they'll stay on the sidelines." He highlights the importance of calling and emailing elected officials to let them know that you will not be voting to reelect them if they do not take a stand.
Our power is at the polls. It is imperative that we put every elected official on notice—if they will not fight for safe gun legislation, they will not get our votes.