In a moment rich with tragic irony, two Democratic senators were engaged in a largely futile debate with their Republican counterparts over whether to strengthen background checks for gun purchases … when they were interrupted with news of the latest school shooting.
When Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., started speaking on the floor Thursday morning, he had not yet heard about the mass shooting at a Southern California high school a little less than an hour before. During Blumenthal’s speech on gun control legislation, a staffer passed him a note alerting him to the shooting. Although he incorrectly stated that the shooting took place in Santa Clara, Calif. instead of Santa Clarita, Calif., Blumenthal quickly pointed to the massacre where two people died as a real-life example of the need for the legislation.
Sens. Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, also of Connecticut, had requested that a measure passed by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, the Universal Background Check bill (HR 8), be passed with unanimous consent. Just as the news of the Saugus High School shooting was hitting the airwaves, Murphy and Blumenthal were arguing in favor of the bill’s passage. Sen. Murphy’s words in particular proved eerily prescient.
"We can't go 24 hours without news of another mass shooting somewhere in America. My kids and millions' others hide in corners of their classroom or in their bathrooms preparing for a mass shooting at their school, and this body does nothing about it," said Murphy, who represented Newtown in the House when the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary happened back in 2012.
The dark irony didn’t escape Sen. Blumenthal’s notice.
The Republican-controlled Senate, of course, is where any common-sense gun legislation goes to die. Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith sealed its fate.
Blumenthal was one of three senators to advocate for gun control legislation Thursday morning. Sen. Christopher S. Murphy, D-Conn., attempted to get a voice vote on H.R. 8, the House-passed gun background check bill. The unanimous consent request was rejected by Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., who said that “legislation that would affect the rights of American citizens under the Second Amendment should not be fast-tracked by the Senate.”
Meanwhile, in Santa Clarita, two children were being gunned down and several more wounded by a high school student, who then turned his gun on himself. The shooter is described as in “critical” condition, but as of Friday afternoon is still alive.
The House bill, which stands no chance of passing as long as Republicans control the Senate, would have required universal background checks for all gun purchasers, not only those who purchase from licensed dealers, but from so-called “gun shows” and other sparsely regulated vendors of these weapons.
Passed in the US House of Representatives in February, H.R. 8 would require background checks on all firearm sales in the country. Currently, under federal law, only licensed gun dealers must perform background checks for anyone seeking to purchase a firearm, which leaves the sale of guns between individuals largely unregulated.
Watch the clip of Blumenthal receiving news of the California school shooting below, as well as Hyde-Smith’s argument in opposition to the background check legislation. Knowing what we know now, it’s chilling.
Former Congresswoman (and gun violence victim) Gabrielle Giffords called out those bought by the gun lobby in a bold statement after the Saugus shootings:
Enough. Americans have had enough of living in fear that today gun violence will change their lives. This is our reality because Trump, McConnell, and their Senate allies have done nothing to change it. They can’t ignore the nightmare this public safety threat creates any longer.
“Every politician paid to defend the status quo by the gun lobby needs to answer whether they are comfortable with live shooter drills becoming routine, students running terrified from their classrooms, and entire communities being locked down. This gun violence epidemic is not beyond our control. We can take action to change this fate so horrific acts of violence don’t dominate our lives.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, the Saugus High School shooting in Santa Clarita, California, is the 367th mass shooting in the United States for calendar year 2019.