Senate Democrats Stage Talk-a-Thon to Slam Inaction on Gun Safety Legislation
The lawmakers were protesting stalled legislation.
— -- Senate Democrats fed up with inaction on gun controls following another mass shooting turned Wednesday to one of the only tools they have left: their voice.
Sen. Chris Murphy, of Connecticut, kicked off the protest around 11:20 a.m., with he and several of his fellow Democrats railing against inaction and urging lawmakers to act on stricter gun measures.
“I'm prepared to stand on this floor and talk about the need for this body to come together on keeping terrorists away from getting guns through those two measures, for frankly as long as I can. Because I know that we can come together on this issue,” Murphy said.
“Having come through the experience of Newtown, I've had enough,” he added, growing visibly emotional. “It's been four years and nothing has been done, despite the fact that 90 percent of the American public wants us to act,” he added.
This comes after House Democrats walked out of a moment of silence earlier this week, saying they couldn’t mark another tragedy on the House floor, knowing nothing would come of it.
Other Democrats like Murphy’s Connecticut colleague Sen. Richard Blumenthal and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker joined him on the floor to ask “questions” of Murphy, allowing him to take a break from talking without losing his control of the floor.
At one point a Republican, Sen. Pat Toomey, joined his Democratic colleagues on the Senate floor.
“We don't want terrorists to be able to walk in to a gun store and buy a gun, and we don't want an innocent law-abiding citizen to be denied his second amendment rights because he's wrongly on a list with a bunch of terrorists,” Toomey said.
Toomey is reportedly working with the pro-gun safety reform group Everytown USA, run by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, to come up with compromise legislation to prevent terrorists from buying guns.