‘Congress must do its job’
Blumenthal, Murphy call on lawmakers to act 10 years after Sandy Hook tragedy
On the 10-year anniversary of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook School, Connecticut’s two U.S. senators took to the Senate floor to remember the tragedy’s victims and advocate for gun reform.
“I wish I could tell you that the knife-like sorrow and pain has subsided, but the fact is, it is still raw and real for so many of us in Connecticut,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal said. “My mind goes back to the horrors of this day, and I think reliving it reminds us of the need to honor those 26 lives with action.”
In a speech lasting 17 minutes, Blumenthal recalled details of the day 10 years ago when a gunman killed 20 students and six educators, then lobbied his colleagues to pass gun-reform measures such as a safe-storage law, a stronger “red-flag” system, mandatory background checks and a national ban on assault weapons.
“Police, teachers, medical professionals, parents, all of the professionals are doing their job,” Blumenthal said. “Congress must do its job.”
Blumenthal and Sen. Chris Murphy, both Democrats, have been among Congress’s loudest advocates for gun reform, and both helped negotiate the bipartisan bill passed this summer that expanded background checks for gun buyers under 21 and funded intervention programs and redflag laws, among others measures. Murphy followed Blumenthal’s remarks with a speech of his own, also lasting just over 17 minutes, in which he described the “feeling of cataclysmic loss” felt by Newtown parents the day of the shooting.
“My pain is for what we lost that day, my pain is for the delayed reaction of this country in waking up to this epidemic, my pain is for the broader community of kids and individuals who have to live with the consequences of our inaction,” he said.
Murphy called for action to address not only the types of mass shootings that make national news but also the day-to-day gun violence prominent in many American cities. He described speaking with kids in Hartford who are afraid to walk to school each day, due to the threat of guns.
“Every day they are experiencing that a trauma that many people that grow up in the suburbs or rural areas of this country will never experience once in their life,” he said. “That’s the true story of American gun violence, not just those that lose their lives but this much bigger universe of millions of individuals who experience trauma either through the loss, through the first-hand experience of gun violence or through the daily threat of gun violence.”
Beyond Blumenthal and Murphy, other lawmakers marked Wednesday’s Sandy Hook anniversary, both in Connecticut and nationwide.
Gov. Ned Lamont ordered all flags to half staff in recognition of the tragedy, which he called “one of the worst in our state’s history,” while President Joe Biden said in a statement that the nation should have “societal guilt” over its failure to address mass shootings.
“We have a moral obligation to pass and enforce laws that can prevent these things from happening again,” Biden said. “We owe it to the courageous, young survivors and to the families who lost part of their soul 10 years ago to turn their pain into purpose.”
Last week, Murphy and Blumenthal, along with several of Connecticut’s congressional delegation, joined families of gunviolence victims to recognize the anniversary of Sandy Hook and press for tighter gun laws, including an assault-weapon ban.
“Gun violence is a public health emergency,” said Ashbey Beasley, a survivor of the mass shooting in Highland Park, Ill. earlier this year. “A set of strong, comprehensive violence prevention laws are needed to protect all Americans in our nation.”