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Murphy: Republicans Wouldn't Act on Guns Even if a School Shooter Killed 100 People

May 21, 2018

Republicans wouldn't bring a debate on gun violence to the floor even if a school shooter were to "kill 100 people," Sen. Chris Murphy (D., Conn.) said Monday.

Three months after the high school massacre in Parkland, Florida that left 17 dead, a school shooter in Santa Fe, Texas, killed 10 on Friday. Murphy, a gun control advocate who supports an assault weapons ban, told MSNBC host Chris Hayes the GOP wouldn't want to expose its members to a tough vote to address the issue.

"Is Congress any closer to doing anything now than in the days after the Parkland massacre?" Hayes asked.

"I think a shooter could walk into a school and kill 100 people, and Republicans wouldn't bring a debate on gun violence before the House of Representatives or the Senate," Murphy said. "I think Republicans have made it very clear they have no intention to debate the issue of gun violence in the Senate or the House before the midterms."

Murphy said the silence of Congress gave mass shooters "an effective green light."

"I really do believe that these very troubled young men who are contemplating mass acts of violence notice that the highest levels of government have offered no meaningful condemnation to the acts of previous shooters, and in their minds, they pervert that silence into permission," he said.