The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Murphy worries about ‘normalizing’ mass shootings
WASHINGTON » U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy had mixed feelings about taking the field last Thursday night as catcher for the Democratic congressional baseball team, a day after a shooter gravely wounded House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., at a practice in nearby Alexandria, Virginia.
“On balance, it’s important to show resiliency, that an unhinged individual can’t stop us from going forward,” Murphy, D-Conn., said in an interview prior to the game. “But I’m worried that we’re normalizing these kinds of incidents, so it’s easy to move on because it happens so often.”
Murphy has played on the Democratic team almost every year since his arrival on Capitol Hill as a House member in 2007. Despite Wednesday’s gunfire, the game was played Thursday evening at Nationals Park, the 41,000-seat home of the Washington Nationals baseball team.
Murphy hasn’t thrown out a runner stealing second base since 2008, he admitted. But he wasn’t expecting much of a problem Thursday, he said, because the Democrats’ pitcher, Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La., is “lights out” on the mound. Richmond’s Louisiana district is next to Scalise’s.
Growing up in Wethersfield, Murphy played baseball in a summer league between his freshman and sophomore years in high school. But he played little after that, turning his athletic focus to basketball and tennis.
The game comes almost a year to the day since Murphy’s dramatic 14-hour, 50-minute filibuster of the Senate over the lack of votes on gun measures. Murphy held the Senate floor with the help of his Connecticut colleague, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, and others until majority Republicans agreed to schedule the votes.
Murphy and fellow senators in the Democratic minority did not prevail when the votes finally were taken, but the filibuster vaulted Connecticut’s junior senator into prominence on the gun issue.
He was not optimistic the ground would shift on Capitol Hill in the wake of the shooting early Wednesday, which wounded four others aside from Scalise.
“I don’t think anyone’s opinion on guns will change on the basis of one shooting,” Murphy said. He pointed out that 80 to 90 people die of gunshot wounds each day nationwide, and that the incident in Alexandria marked the year’s 154th mass shoot-
ing — which Murphy defines as four or more shot.
“The data is clear — the more guns you have in a community, the more gun homicides you’re going to have,” he said. “That was true Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and today.”
Murphy brushed aside the opinion of some Republicans, including a GOP team member, Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., that more guns in the hands of lawmakers and staff members could have saved the day.
“That was predictable,” Murphy said. “It was pretty clear that argument would be used.”
The Capitol Hill Police detail accompanying Scalise returned fire and ultimately killed the shooter, identified as James Hodgkinson, 66, of Belleville, Illinois.
As legislative business got back to normal Thursday, Scalise’s condition at MedStar Washington Hospital Center continued to be listed as critical.
The 51-year-old lawmaker, third in seniority among Republicans who make up the majority in the House, has undergone three surgeries for a bullet wound in his left hip, which fractured bones and damaged organs.
President Donald Trump, who visited him Wednesday evening, said Thursday that Scalise is “in some trouble” but “he’s going to be OK, we hope.”
Although Murphy predicts little will change soon in terms of gun politics in Washington, he maintains hope that someday it might.
“I hope at some point people realize this doesn’t happen anywhere but the United States,” he said. “No other country averages so many mass shootings every day. It’s in our power to stop this, if we choose.”