On Dec. 14, 2012, a few weeks after Chris Murphy was first elected as a U.S. senator from Connecticut, he was standing on a train platform with his wife and children, on their way into New York City to see the Christmas decorations. That was when he heard about the horrific shooting in is state, at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in which 26 people were killed, 20 of them young children. Murphy literally left his family at the station, heading up to the grieving community of Newtown. Ever since that day, Murphy has dedicated himself to preventing other families from enduring that same horror.
I spoke to Murphy, now in his second term in Washington, for "Salon Talks" about his work to reduce gun violence in our nation. He was among the driving forces behind the bipartisan gun reform legislation enacted last year — the first major gun safety bill passed by our oft-paralyzed Congress in 30 years. He told me that this legislation was genuinely consequential, and has had real-world impact: "Lots of people have been denied weapons that absolutely shouldn't have them."
