Murphy joins gun violence kickoff event

Universal background checks could drastically drop gun violence across the nation, U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy claimed during a virtual event on Tuesday.

Murphy was one of the participants of a kickoff online discussion for the “Road to Universal Background Checks Tour,” hosted by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords — co-founder of Giffords: Courage to Fight Gun Violence. Also on the call were Giffords Executive Director Peter Ambler and gun violence prevention activist Tre Bosley.

The focus of the session, which lasted about 45 minutes, focused on what the participants described as a vital need for gun control laws.

The “Road to Universal Background Checks Tour” is a series of virtual gatherings that will highlight universal background checks. The gatherings are hosted Giffords’ gun violence organization, which she co-founded after she suffered a severe brain injury when she was shot during an assassination attempt in January 2011 in Tucson, Arizona.

“We can let the shootings continue, or we can act,” Giffords said during Tuesday’s gathering. “We can protect our families, our futures. We can vote ... Please join us in this fight.”

Tre Bosley, a gun violence activist from Chicago, was a young boy when he was first directly exposed to gun violence by the fatal shooting of his cousin in December 2005.

Just months later, Bosley lost his brother to gun violence.

Terrell Bosley was practicing bass guitar in the parking lot of a church prior to his choir practice in Chicago on April 5, 2006, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Tre Bosley said the deaths of his cousin and brother sparked his activism for violence prevention. “I didn’t understand what was going on,” Bosley said. “I knew that I had to try to be the change.”

He said he started to connect and work with different organizations, including working on petitions and rallies.

“I didn’t want anyone else to experience the loss that I had,” Bosley said.

Being a younger activist, Bosley said he urges other young individuals to engage their friends in activism and education. He said younger people should also learn and spread the word where possible about things like rallies, injustices and voting, including local elections.

Murphy talked about how the December 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School put the importance of focusing on gun violence legislation in the spotlight for him.

“We still have far too many shootings happening in my state, in Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport,” Murphy acknowledged, also citing that illegal guns are an issue — not just in Connecticut but in many states.

Bosley asked Murphy what can be done to address the daily shootings in Black communities that he said are “often going overlooked.”

“Command the country to pay attention to this issue every single day,” Murphy said. “It has to be our daily focus ... And we have to be honest about systemic persecution.”

Murphy said studies have shown that poverty is one of the most obvious indicators that someone could become the victim of gun violence in the United States. He said since communities of color end up in what appear to be “never-ending cycles of poverty,” it also traps those communities in cycles of gun violence.

Legally, Murphy said once universal gun laws are checked that make it harder to get access or, or even sell, illegal weapons, he would expect a rapid decrease in gun crimes. He said every gun sale in the country should be subject to a universal background check.

Contributed Photo A screenshot of the virtual gathering on Tuesday.