WASHINGTON -- Senator Chris Murphy took to the Senate floor Wednesday morning to demand action on gun violence in the wake of the Orlando nightclub attack.
"I'm speaking on the Senate floor to honor the victims of the Orlando attack & demand the Senate address gun violence. #Enough," Sen. Murphy tweeted.
But this is no brief statement.
"I am prepared to stand on the Senate floor and talk about the need to prevent gun violence for as long as I can. I've had #Enough," he tweeted just after 11:30 a.m.
Murphy concluded his statement just after 2 a.m. Thursday.
Sen. Murphy and Sen. Richard Blumenthal worked a "back and forth" style to continue holding the senate floor. More than three dozen other lawmakers took part as well, including two Republicans.
Sen. Murphy is calling for gun control reform to expand background checks and close the terror gap, to prevent people on the FBI's Terrorist Watch List from buying guns.
"If Senator Murphy and his allies can pass a bill that deals with the terrorists and can get a vote on the senate floor on a bill that deals with the gun show loophole, those two things in and of themselves would be more progress than anyone has foreseen and has seen in decades on Capitol Hill," Political analyst Bill Curry said. "I think they’re actually gonna get a bill out of this and no one saw that coming."
Curry said filibusters are rare, but this one was also unexpected.
"If anyone had said a year ago or a week ago that there would have been one bipartisan bill that would make it through this deeply divided congress in an election year, nobody would have said it would have ever been about gun safety," he said.
On Tuesday, Congressman Jim Himes protested in favor of stiffer gun control laws by walking out of the House chamber during a moment of silence for the victims of the nightclub shooting.
