WASHINGTON—Today, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) released the following statement following NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre’s State of the Union response speech:

Wayne LaPierre's statement today is just one more piece of evidence to show how out of step he is with the American public, his own membership, and reality in general. 

Mr. LaPierre wants us to believe that the president’s speech had nothing to do with school safety. Nothing could be further from the truth. More guns in schools won’t keep our children safer—it will put more children at risk. The initiatives President Obama proposed put safety in our schools and on our streets first. Universal background checks—which the overwhelming majority of NRA members support—will make our city streets safer, and a ban on military-style assault weapons and high capacity magazines will prevent future mass tragedies. More little boys and girls would be alive in Newtown today if these measures had been in place last year.

Mr. LaPierre continues to reside in a fantasy world where those of us who just want to assure the safety of our children are secretly scheming to take away people's guns.  That’s a lie, and Mr. LaPierre and his gun lobby buddies should stop telling it.

The “Connecticut effect”, as the NRA so offensively puts it, isn’t going to fade, and nothing will stop me and dozens of other senators from fighting to honor the memory of the 26 innocent lives lost in Newtown by passing common sense gun legislation.