Senate Democrats called for action on gun control legislation Thursday following a 15-hour filibuster led by Democratic Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy.
“This country is rising up and demanding that the United States Congress take action to address the epidemic of gun violence in this nation,” Murphy said at a press conference. “And we’re doing it in part because of the courage of survivors and victims of gun violence, who all across America are demanding action.”
Murphy introduced two family members of victims of gun violence – Tina Meins, whose daughter was killed in December in San Bernardino, California by a co-worker who pledged allegiance to ISIS, and Reverend Sharon Risher, whose mother and two cousins were all shot and killed a year ago Friday at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
Watch the press conference below:
Of the shooting in Charleston, Risher said: “Along with so many Americans, I was baffled at how the shooter was able to get his hands on a gun, and how we live in a country filled with so much hatred.”
Senators Richard Blumenthal, Dianne Feinstein, Cory Booker, and Charles Schumer also advocated for an assault weapons ban.
"Gun violence can not only be prevented, but it must be prevented," said Blumenthal. "And it is linked not only to hatred and bigotry and random anger and sometimes severe mental illness, but also to terrorism. The simple fact is that people pledging allegiance to violent extremists abroad, whatever label you want to use for them, are now committing acts of terror here."
Their remarks came in the wake of the shooting in Orlando, Florida last weekend, when a military assault style weapon was used to kill 49 people at a gay nightclub.
Senate Democrats have pushed for Congress to pass legislation that might prevent identified suspected terrorists from being able to buy weapons and explosives. The lawmakers seek to fund the FBI’s ability to prevent terror attacks and to fund the Department of Justice’s ability to investigate and fight discrimination and to prosecute hate crimes.
A vote in the Senate on a bipartisan gun control measure is said to be likely to fail. From Politico:
There is an agreement in principle between Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Harry Reid to hold four amendment votes as soon as Thursday afternoon though nothing is locked in, aides said. Still, senators said they expected three of those to be revotes from last year, when universal background checks and two anti-terrorism firearms bills both were defeated.
“Republicans must join us for those measures to pass. But that won’t happen if the Republicans continue to take their orders — and I mean orders — from the National Rifle Association and Gun Owners of America,” Reid said.
Indeed, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) will offer an amendment that would bar suspected terrorists from buying guns, allowing the Justice Department to arbitrate disputes when people mistakenly end up on the terrorist watch list. The Justice Department gave an endorsement to Feinstein's bill, which has been tweaked to allow gun sales to go through when blocking a sale could blow up a major terrorism investigations.
Politico also reported that Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called Murphy’s overnight filibuster a “campaign talk-a-thon.”
