WASHINGTON – On the one-year anniversary of the Marjory Stoneman Douglass High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, which claimed the lives of 17 students and educators, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Thursday released the following statement:

“One year ago today we watched the unthinkable happen – again – as 17 students and teachers were gunned down in their classrooms at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. For the families who lost their loved ones, their lives were cleaved in half that day - there is life before February 14, 2018, and there is the dark abyss after,” said Murphy.

“Nothing we do will ever be able to repair the searing pain that those Parkland families are suffering through today. But for too long, Congress reacted to tragedies like Parkland with mind-numbing inaction. That is changing now. And it’s due in large part to the students of Parkland, who raised their voices unafraid and galvanized a new generation in the fight against gun violence. The legacy of the horrible loss we suffered one year ago will be the millions of young people who are fighting to make school shootings like the one in Parkland a thing of the past,” Murphy continued.  

Last month, Murphy led 40 senators in reintroducing his Background Checks Expansion Act to expand federal background checks to the sale and transfer of all firearms by private sellers, with certain reasonable exceptions. The U.S. House Judiciary Committee successfully passed the House version of Murphy’s background bill yesterday.

 

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