WASHINGTON – Less than a week after a man opened fire at a municipal building in Virginia Beach, claiming the lives of 12 people, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Wednesday honored the victims of the tragedy by delivering one of his “Voices of Victims” speeches on the U.S. Senate floor. Murphy told the stories of the employees whose lives were lost in last week’s mass shooting, in addition to stories of other victims of gun violence across the country, including the 52 people who died over the weekend in Chicago.

Thursday marks 100 days since the U.S. House of Representatives passed the historic Bipartisan Background Checks Act, which expands federal background checks to the sale or transfer of all firearms by private sellers. In January 2019, Murphy led 40 Senators in introducing the Senate counterpart bill, the Background Checks Expansion Act. Earlier today, Murphy was joined by U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and U.S. Representatives Mike Thompson (CA-5), Robin Kelly (IL-2), Ted Deutch (FL-22), Jahana Hayes (CT-5), and Lucy McBath (GA-6) at a press conference calling on the Senate to pass commonsense gun violence legislation.

“I'm also here today to ask my colleagues to think about why we continue to refuse to have a debate on a piece of legislation that the House passed 100 days ago in a bipartisan fashion. Even if you don't love the version of the background checks bill that the House passed, bring your own version to the floor. Bring a different bill that will address the epidemic of gun violence in this country. All I ask is that you don't do nothing, that you stop your absolute silence in the face of this epidemic of slaughter,” said Murphy.

The full text of Murphy’s remarks is below:

“Mr. President, last week a man submitted his two weeks’ notice in Virginia Beach at his place of employment before going there and shooting 12 people and injuring four others. He unloaded dozens of rounds indiscriminately, in addition to two handguns, he had extended ammunition magazines and a suppresser to muffle the sound of gunfire. This was the [150th] mass shooting in America … This has become a regular part of life in the United States of America, individuals walking into churches and shopping malls and schools and places of employment and shooting indiscriminately such that dozens of innocent lives are lost. In most cases, the same kinds of weapons are used: semi-automatic rifles, extended magazines, weapons or components of weapons that are banned in other countries, were banned in this country for a period of time because they were believed to be so dangerous such that they should be in the exclusive province of the military and law enforcement.

“Ryan Keith Cox was 50 years old when he was shot and killed on May 31st. He was known for his soft-spoken nature and his powerful singing voice in his church choir, and he was constantly affecting those around him with small but meaningful gestures of kindness. The day that he was killed in Virginia Beach, a close coworker of Ryan's, Christi Dewar, was with him when the shooting started and Ryan told Christi and other colleagues to barricade themselves in the break room. Christi implored [Ryan] to join them in the break room. And he said to her: I have to go check on the other ones. He left and he was soon shot by the gunman as he was assisting other co-workers to safety. Christi said every time that I was upset, Ryan would give me a big hug. When I was upset about something, he knew exactly what to say to make you smile. He’s just the type of person who you know would lay down his life for someone just like he did. Bishop Williams of Faith World Ministries in Norfolk said that he had known [Ryan] and his family for years. They were close, they were a very, very loving family that have just been leaders in our church world, Bishop Williams said. Ryan Keith Cox was 50 years old when he was shot in Virginia Beach.

“Joshua Hardy was two years older. He was 52 years old. He had been working for four and a half years as an engineering technician at the city of Virginia Beach. He was raised in Hampton Roads. He came from a really big family and he was described by his friends and his family as being incredibly caring, especially about kids. He didn't have any children of his own but he often watched over his nieces and nephews. One of his nieces, Tasha, remembered that he was around a lot and he cared for me and all of my cousins, she said. He was like a father figure to me because my dad wasn't around. In 2011, Josh actually published a book called the [the] ABC Book on Protecting Yourself from Strangers and the people he worked with remember being so impressed that Josh had gone above and beyond the call. One of his colleagues in the Engineering department, Larry Knight, gave a copy of the book to his daughter and grandson and he remembers Joshua just always having a smile on the job. Quote: ‘Joshua was one of the nicest men you would ever care to meet. He was funny and kind hearted. He would do anything for you.’

“LaQuita Brown was 39 years old. She was a public servant from Chesapeake, Virginia. She had worked in the public works department for more than four years. She was a right-of-way agent. Her friends called her ‘Ms. Worldwide’ because she loved to travel. She had been all around the world, and her social media was plastered with pictures of her travels. Her father, as any father would be, is absolutely heartbroken by her death. He said she was just everything, she was everything to me. I know nobody's perfect, but from the time she was born, she had no faults. For the Brown family, the grief surrounding LaQuita's death comes on the heels of LaQuita's brother dying from a hit-and-run driver three years ago. Her father says that LaQuita helped him through the grief. “She saved me,” he said. ‘I wouldn't have made it through that without her.’

“100 days into the year, 100 mass shootings. Doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world except for the United States of America. We can't claim to be helpless. We can't claim to have no solutions because if it only happens here and nowhere else, then there must be something different happening here. Right? We can learn. We can adapt. We are now 100 days since the House of Representatives passed a universal background checks bill. A universal background checks bill that is supported by 90% of Americans and would have a significant downward effect on the number of people that are shot in this country. Now we tend to only pay attention as a nation and as a body when something like Virginia Beach happens, when there is a mass shooting of epic scale, when five or ten or 20 people lose their life at one time. But since the House passed the universal background checks bill, 10,000 people have been shot and killed in America. That's a stunning number. 10,000 people have been shot and killed in America in just 100 days since the House passed the universal background checks bill and the vast majority of these individuals are not, are not killed in mass shootings. Most of these are suicides, most of these are individuals who took their own life with a weapon. Others are accidental shootings, many of them are homicides. And the grief and the pain that comes with all those is no different than the grief that LaQuita Brown’s family is feeling right now. We should care about every single one of these deaths. And the reason that I peg this to the passage of the background checks bill is because what we know is that background checks saves lives. In states that have universal background checks, meaning, you know, if you're getting a gun in a commercial sale, you need to prove you're not a criminal, you’re not seriously mentally ill. In states that have universal background checks, you have less suicides, you have less homicides. Connecticut is a perfect example. Research shows that once we passed our universal background checks requirement, we did it quite a number of years ago, we saw a 40% reduction in gun homicides in our state. Similarly when Missouri went from having a universal background checks requirement to not having one, they saw a 40% increase in gun homicides in their state.

“And so not every single one of these 10,000 deaths is preventable, but many of them are. It's not that we don't know what to do. It's not that we don't know what makes this country different. It's just we're unwilling to take those steps…. Gwain Brown was 16 years old. He was a sophomore in high school in Chicago, Illinois, and he was all hyped up to throw himself the biggest 16th birthday party that his friends had ever seen. At the end of April, he was gonna throw down. But on April 1st, he was standing in front of a gas station when a gunman opened fire, hitting Gwain in the leg and the chest. One of his basketball teammates thought the initial news of Gwain’s death was an April fool’s joke. It happened on April 1st. And so when he heard about it, he just went back to sleep. His friend said Gwain was the life of the party, he was so energetic. ‘I was with him a week ago and for this to happen in that time period, I'm just in shock.’ At a vigil, his elementary school principal read an excerpt of something he had written well in school. He wrote, ‘I want to be a good son. Always be there for my mom and always be there to take care of her.’

“A couple of weeks ago, Jaylin Ellzey was a freshman at Fenger Academy High School in Chicago. According to his uncle, [Jaylin] was an outgoing, kind-hearted kid. He lived with his mother, he had two sisters, and three brothers. Jaylin is not around anymore because he was one of those victims of gun violence in the city of Chicago. His uncle said this: ‘Summer in the city? It's just something different. Other kids look forward to going to summer camp. Jaylin was just trying to make sure he lived another day.’ His uncle Jacob began tearing up as he recalled his favorite memory of Jaylin as a small child. Whenever Jaylin and his brother would come stay with their uncle, they would take a bath and then they’d nestle amongst the pillows and blankets, waiting for their uncle to blast them with hot air from a blow dryer. ‘He was just a lovable kid, surviving his environment,’ said his uncle. ‘And he knew about family. Family was always instilled in him.’

“Mr. President, since my life was changed in December of 2012 when 20 first graders were killed in Sandy Hook, I have tried to come down to the floor of the [Senate] every couple of weeks and tell the stories of victims of gun violence in this country, to try to put some personality behind the 10,000 lives that have been lost in the last 100 days, and I told you about five of the victims this morning. But our inaction is complicity. There are tough things and then there are easy things. I get it that there are some anti-gun violence measures that I would support that are just too hot for some Republican members, but I don't care what state you're from: 97% of your constituents, 80% of your constituents, the vast majority of your constituents support expanding background checks to make sure that if you buy a gun online or if you buy a gun at a gun show, you got to go through a five-minute background check.

“All of our constituents, no matter if we represent a blue state or red state, support extreme risk protection orders. The idea that you should be able to go to the court when somebody is on the verge of lashing out against someone else or going to hurt themselves and take away their guns, at least temporarily. These are the things that are not controversial anywhere except for here that we could pass. Since the House passed the background checks bill, by the way, with bipartisan support, 10,000 people have died. But there have been 109 mass shootings. 31 states have had a mass shooting. 166 kids have been killed or injured. 775 teenagers have been killed or injured. And so I'm here on the floor today to send my heartfelt condolences to the families in Virginia Beach who continue to mourn yet another mass shooting. I expressed, as I always do, my condolences to the families of gun violence throughout this country. 80 to 90 people lose their life every day from a gunshot wound.

“But I'm also here today to ask my colleagues to think about why we continue to refuse to have a debate on a piece of legislation that the House passed 100 days ago in a bipartisan fashion. Even if you don't love the version of the background checks bill that the House passed, bring your own version to the floor. Bring a different bill that will address the epidemic of gun violence in this country. All I ask is that you don't do nothing, that you stop your absolute silence in the face of this epidemic of slaughter. Let the Senate be the Senate. I heard that there was a time some years ago when the United States Senate actually debated legislation. I've read in the history books that this is supposedly the greatest deliberative body in the world. We are doing no deliberation here. Bill after bill passes the House of Representatives. None of it comes before the Senate for a vote. No health care bills, no immigration bills, no anti-gun violence bills. I get it, that the bills that passed the House probably can't pass a Republican-led Senate, but why are we not even trying? Who is in charge here? The special interests who want nothing to happen, the gun lobby, the health insurance companies? Or are we in charge? We're the ones that got elected. We're the members of the United States Senate. We could choose to have these debates, hash out our differences, and see if there is a proposal that 60 of us could agree on that would do something about this unacceptable level of gun violence that plagues this nation on a daily basis.”

 

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