Campaign Action
At 11:21 AM ET, Sen. Chris Murphy took the Senate floor to talk about Congress and guns. As of this writing, he and his Democratic colleagues are still there to talk about the ongoing death toll that Republicans in Congress have refused to stem. They’re tweeting their solidarity with the hashtag #Enough. Murphy's office provided this statement about his talking filibuster:
"Senator Murphy and Senate Democrats are holding the floor because they will not accept inaction or half measures in the face of continued slaughter. Congress cannot sit on the sidelines while killers freely buy weapons to brutally murder the people Congress is supposed to be protecting. Until private sales at gun shows and over the internet also require stringent background checks and unless suspected terrorists on the no fly list are prohibited from legally purchasing guns, our lax gun laws will continue to allow terrorists and criminals to amass a weapons stockpile. Senator Murphy will remain on the floor demanding the Senate adopt these measures." – Chris Harris, spokesman for Senator Chris Murphy
In his remarks, Murphy said, "I’m going to remain on this floor until we get some signal, some sign, that we can come together on these two measures, that we can get a path forward on addressing this epidemic in a meaningful, bipartisan way." Six hours in, there apparently has not been any signal from Republicans that they're willing to do so, and "Cornyn dismissed the Democratic filibuster as 'filling the dead air' while the two parties negotiate." This talking filibuster demonstrates that Democrats are not going to be accepting the usual fake compromise Republicans have been offering.
Those Democratic senators standing up for finally doing something about guns are Murphy's Connecticut colleague Richard Blumenthal, and Cory Booker (NJ), Dick Durbin (IL), Bill Nelson (FL), Chuck Schumer (NY), Joe Manchin (WV), Ben Cardin (MD), Ed Markey (MA), Patrick Leahy (VT), Al Franken (MN), Patty Murray (WA), Gary Peters (MI), Bob Casey (PA), Ron Wyden (OR), Elizabeth Warren (MA), Jeff Merkley (OR), Bob Menendez (NJ), Jeanne Shaheen (NH), Kirsten Gillibrand (NY), Claire McCaskill (MO), Mark Warner (VA), Amy Klobuchar (MN), Barbara Mikulski (MD), Sherrod Brown (OH), and counting.