The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Murphy plays Irish card in Brexit fix-it
WASHINGTON — Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., would be the first to tell you he’s an accidental Irish-American.
His Mom is PolishAmerican from New Britain. Hartford law firm partner Dad is at least partly Irish, but young Chris grew up as a Protestant.
But none of this is stopping Connecticut’s junior senator from playing the “Murphy” card on a trip to Dublin, Belfast and London to discuss the implications of Brexit for U.S.-U.K. relations — and also to plead for an equitable solution to the possible hardening of British-controlled Northern Ireland’s border with the Republic of Ireland.
Lots of moving parts here and I don’t pretend to be an expert on Brexit’s fine print. But Murphy and a fair portion of IrishAmericans are worried that a restoration of a full border with customs inspections, passport control and the like will damage the blossoming peace that’s existed since 1996, when the Good Friday Agreement ended the “troubles” that raged across Northern Ireland.
“My greatest hope is he’ll reinforce a longing for peace in the region, and no hard border,” said Brian O’Neill, president of the Ancient Order of Hibernians chapter in Stamford, who was on a conference call of Connecticut IrishAmerican leaders with Murphy before Murphy’s departure Monday.
Once a British militarized zone aimed at choking off Irish support for the IRA in Northern Ireland, the border now is nothing more than an invisible line. Commerce flows freely between the two nations. A British withdrawal from the EU theoretically would put an end to all that, ushering in bitter memories of violent times.
As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Murphy has a bit of a bully pulpit to preach reconciliation and continuing peace.
Murphy told reporters in a separate call that a return to hard borders would be “unacceptable.”
He added: “I hope my visit during (this) critical time will have an impact.”
After a disgruntled employee opened fire and killed four at Connecticut State Lottery headquarters in 1998, Connecticut became the first state in the nation to approve a “risk warrant” law — allowing relatives and friends to initiate a legal process that takes guns from troubled individuals when a judge concludes they pose a risk to themselves or others.
The same idea now goes by a new name — the “Red Flag” statute. It is a prominent item on the gun violence-prevention menu on Capitol Hill since Democrats took control of the House.
On March 26, the Senate Judiciary Committee holds a hearing titled “Red Flag Laws: Examining Guidelines for State Action.” Expect Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., to highlight Connecticut’s law as a model.
Blumenthal is behind “Red Flag” legislation with an unlikely partner, Judiciary chairman Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
While the partisan divide on gun issues remains wide, Graham and Blumenthal were able to bridge it over “Red Flag.”
“Sen. Blumenthal and I disagree on many issues regarding the Second Amendment, but we strongly agree that restricting access to firearms from those who pose an imminent danger to themselves or others is a strong step forward in protecting public safety,” Graham said earlier this month.
According to a 2017 Duke University study, invocation of Connecticut’s law reached a high in 2012 — the year of the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting. That year, authorities seized 140 guns.
Not a huge number, but, as we now know, it takes only one such gun in the wrong hands to cause a tremendous amount of mayhem.