WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Friday published an op-ed as part of the New York Times's Dealbook: How to Fix America in which he called for Congress to finally pass a universal background checks bill. In 2019, Murphy introduced the Background Check Expansion Act in the Senate to expand the federal background checks to all gun sales.   

"This epidemic of gun violence is a choice. We know how to reduce this carnage, but we live with a policy paralysis caused by a small industry with outsized political power. For the past 30 years, the gun lobby has successfully blocked action to reduce gun violence. But thankfully, their power is quickly fading, and Congress is closer than ever to passing lifesaving reforms,” Murphy wrote.

Murphy continued: “There is no single law change that will prevent every gun death or mass shooting. But the data points to one particular intervention with an eye-popping return on investment. Passing a national requirement that no gun be sold without the purchaser passing a background check will save thousands of lives. States that have already implemented universal background checks, including my home state of Connecticut, have seen significant drops in gun homicides.”

“The good news is that a federal universal background law is wildly popular. More than 90 percent of all Americans support this approach, including 85 percent of gun owners and an overwhelming majority of N.R.A. members. That makes universal background checks more popular than baseball or apple pie (in some polls, at least). By making this simple and urgently needed change in law, Congress can save thousands of lives,” Murphy concluded.

Click here to read the full piece.

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