Conn. senators demand action on anniversary of Newtown shooting

Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) marked the two-year anniversary of the shooting of 20 first-graders at in Newton, Conn.

“The best and truest way to memorialize them in history is to approve commonsense, effective measures that prevent gun violence,” Blumenthal said on the Senate floor Wednesday. “Congress’s failure to act is contemptible and unconscionable.”

{mosads}On Dec. 14, 2012, a gunman entered Sandy Hook Elementary School and shot and killed 20 students and six educators. 

Shortly after the shooting, the Senate tried to pass gun control reforms forcing background checks on all gun sales, but after heavily lobbying from the National Rifle Association (NRA) Republicans blocked the effort.

Murphy said since the Sandy Hook shooting, gun violence has become an “epidemic” that Congress has failed to address. He said there have been more than 50 more school shootings in the past two years.

“Hopefully Congress can recognize that our silence, our inability to pass anything in the two years since Sandy Hook, effectively makes us complicit,” Murphy said.