HARTFORD — Senator Chris Murphy and other Connecticut leaders made it known that the gun violence needs to come to an end.
“We are here today to say that enough is enough. The reason that these mass shootings continue to happen, the reason that 90 people die every day across this country is because of public policy choices that this congress makes,” said Murphy.
Senator Murphy believes gun violence is uniquely an American problem. He says the gun lobby in the nation’s capitol has a lot of firepower.
“Even though 90 percent of Americans think that we should have universal background checks, Republican still won’t endorse it I think largely because they’re afraid of the gun lobby,” said Murphy.
However, Republican majority whip Steve Scalise says gun legislation isn’t necessary. His words came after being shot at a baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia.
“The first thing I think about is if my capitol police security detail is not there to counter the shooter,” says Scalise. “This thing turns out very differently in a bad way. I think that’s the real message people actually use guns to defend themselves from criminals.”
But Democrats point to data that tells a different story. According to the Violence and Policy Center, A non-profit research group based in Washington D.C., in 2014 the FBI reported 224 cases of justifiable homicide by private citizens with guns. In that same time span the number of criminal homicides with guns is 7,670.
