It was 11:21 a.m. local time when Sen. Murphy of Connecticut took the microphone on the House and ushered in the debate on the Commerce, Justice and Science budget — he has stood here many times to speak on the gun violence issue — to Orlando he was at his wits end. He’s just had enough now.
Visibly moved and in a shaky voice, Chris Murphy announced that he would speak until the House was ready to discuss gun law reform Block the process with endlessly long speeches. So Chris Murphy wants to speak until Congress debates the no-fly-no-buy law. All those who are no longer allowed to board a plane because they are on a terrorist list should also be banned from buying weapons in the future.
“Nothing happened”
Chris Murphy represents Connecticut in the Senate. In December 2012, twenty children from an elementary school were shot dead by a gunman there.
“I can’t tell you how hard it is to look the parents of the little children who died at Sandy Hook in the eye and tell them almost four years later, ‘Nothing happened. Nothing at all.’
In fact, there have been 12 gun control reform votes in both houses in the recent past — all defeated by the Republican majority in both houses. Senator Murphy knows his move won’t make any friends in the Senate. Not among colleagues and not in the management of the house.
But it bothers him that even following the Orlando massacre, Congress won’t tighten gun laws. He considers this an insult to all the relatives of the many victims.
Unexpected help from the right
Senator Chris Murphy, however, is not alone in his push. The Democratic members of the House of Representatives also want to use the shock of Orlando to finally get something moving. Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives, is hoping to finally get Republicans on board — though she says the Republican majority in both houses of Congress is an affiliate of the powerful gun lobby, she says – the NRA, the National Rifle Association.
However, Nancy Pelosi also conceals the fact that opposition to the no-fly-no-buy law does not only come from the ranks of the Republicans. Many Democrats are also opposed to any tightening of gun laws in view of their constituency. Bernie Sanders, for example, Hillary Clinton’s Democratic opponent during the primaries, always remained loyal to the gun lobby in all votes. Now Donald Trump of all people seems to want to drive a wedge in the republican united front of gun friends: he joins the demand for the no-fly-no-buy law and wants to reach an agreement with the NRA.
