Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut wrote an op-ed in Fox News calling for action on gun violence as he begins bipartisan negotiations with Republican senators.
Mr Murphy, who was sworn in weeks after the Sandy Hook shooting in Newtown, is the most outspoken Democratic senator when it comes to gun safety. Last week, after Salvador Ramos shot and killed 21 people in Uvalde, Texas, Mr Murphy gave a floor speech imploring the Senate to act.
“I begged my fellow Senators to sit down at the table with me to work out a compromise that could save lives,” he wrote in the Fox op-ed. “But before I could take my seat, the campaign had begun to try to make conservative gun owners believe my offer wasn’t sincere - that I really had a secret agenda to take people’s guns away. That isn’t true. That’s never been true.”
Mr Murphy is part of a quartet of Senators – including Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Sinema along with Republican Senators Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas – negotiating to come to a consensus on gun violence. Mr Murphy said he is open to some proposals like “red flag laws”.
“I’m willing to pass incremental change, like tightening up our background checks system and helping states pass laws to allow law enforcement to temporarily take guns away from individuals who pose a threat to themselves or others,” he said. “I’m also very supportive of providing more mental health resources to help young men in crisis and more funding to pay for security upgrades at our schools.”
Mr Murphy noted how many Republicans agree with him on expanding background checks. Mr Murphy’s op-ed comes not just after the shooting in Uvalde, but also after a white supremacist killed 11 people at a supermarket in Buffalo and on Wednesday, another gunman opened fire at a clinic in Tulsa.
“Shooting after shooting after shooting has proved our current system is broken,” he said. “There’s no perfect antidote that will save every life, but even a small step forward will save thousands.”
