Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy (courtesy murphy.senate.gov)

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) released a statement on Sunday after multiple people were killed and injured in a shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas:

“The paralysis you feel right now – the impotent helplessness that washes over you as news of another mass slaughter scrolls across the television screen – isn’t real. It’s a fiction created and methodically cultivated by the gun lobby, designed to assure that no laws are passed to make America safer, because those laws would cut into their profits. My heart sunk to the pit of my stomach, once again, when I heard of today’s shooting in Texas.

“My heart dropped further when I thought about the growing macabre club of families in Las Vegas and Orlando and Charleston and Newtown, who have to relive their own day of horror every time another mass killing occurs.

“None of this is inevitable. I know this because no other country endures this pace of mass carnage like America. It is uniquely and tragically American. As long as our nation chooses to flood the county with dangerous weapons and consciously let those weapons fall into the hands of dangerous people, these killings will not abate.

“As my colleagues go to sleep tonight, they need to think about whether the political support of the gun industry is worth the blood that flows endlessly onto the floors of American churches, elementary schools, movie theaters, and city streets. Ask yourself – how can you claim that you respect human life while choosing fealty to weapons-makers over support for measures favored by the vast majority of your constituents.

“My heart breaks for Sutherland Springs. Just like it still does for Las Vegas. And Orlando. And Charleston. And Aurora. And Blacksburg. And Newtown. Just like it does every night for Chicago. And New Orleans. And Baltimore. And Bridgeport. The terrifying fact is that no one is safe so long as Congress chooses to do absolutely nothing in the face of this epidemic. The time is now for Congress to shed its cowardly cover and do something.”

41 COMMENTS

  1. It’s not support of the gun industry, it’s support of the Constitution and America’s ability for personal self-defense.

    • I agree. I’m going on the attack now. I’m already using Twiter to respond to them and I rarely use twitter. They say it’s time to do something, I say they’re right. It’s time t remove restrictions, quit treating your citizens like idiots and encourage people to protect themselves ala Dan Paxton.

      This comment system could be worse, but not by much.

  2. “Just like it does every night for Chicago. And New Orleans. And Baltimore. And Bridgeport.”

    Those are not mass shootings…unless you are counting by neighborhoods.

  3. “As my colleagues go to sleep tonight, they need to think about whether the political support of the abortion industry is worth the blood that flows endlessly onto the floors of American hospitals and clinics.”

    Turnabout is fair play, aye aye.

  4. “The paralysis you feel right now – the impotent helplessness”

    I never feel that way, because I’m almost always armed. I may not be able to stop a mass shooting, but at least I’ll have a fighting chance.

    The massacres we’ve had in this country don’t hold a candle to those held in the Statist utopias of Stalin’s USSR, Mao’s China, Hitler’s Third Reich, or Pol Pot’s Cambodia, that Senator Murphy seems to want to emulate by disarming his fellow Americans.

    Oppressors always disarm their victims first.

    Evil people controlling the power of the state kill far more than innocents than individual fiends ever will.

  5. “None of this is inevitable.”

    “None of this is inevitable. Unlike Connecticut’s bankruptcy, which is utterly inevitable.” FIFY.

  6. “The time is now for Congress to shed its cowardly cover and do something.”

    Ah, the infamous “do something”.

    Well, Senator – what exactly?

    Methinks he is experiencing the aforementioned, non-existing “impotent helplessness.”

    I choose to tool-up.

  7. For every Orlando I’ll give you a Mexico City. For every Las Vegas I’ll give you a Juarez.
    How’s gun control working, right next door?

  8. “I know this because no other country endures this pace of mass carnage like America. It is uniquely and tragically American.”

    Another lying politician from Connecticut.
    El Salvador has a homicide rate of 108 murders per 100,000 people. America’s is 4.88. But, some need constituents to believe the worst about our country in order to achieve their partisan ends.

  9. @Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy,
    Are you that stupid! The only thing congress can do to reduce the problem is to pass national reciprocity and hope people train and learn situational awareness.
    France is a good example of how gun free zones don’t work.. They have some of the strictest gun laws yet one of the largest mass shootings. If a gun is not used, a vehicle or explosive will take it’s place.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_massacres_in_France

  10. “I know this because no other country endures this pace of mass carnage like America. It is uniquely and tragically American.”

    Really?

    France had more casualties from mass public shootings in 2015 than the US suffered during Obama’s entire presidency. And we’ve got five times the population! The per capita rate of casualties in France is thus 8.19 per million and for the US it is 1.65 — France’s per capita rate of casualties is thus 4.97 times higher than the rate in the US.

    Hey Senator, want to know what countries have a higher death rate from mass public shootings than the US? Data from 2009 – 2015: Norway, France, Switzerland, Finland, Belgium, Czech Republic, Serbia, Macedonia, Albania, and Slovakia.

    Hey Senator, want to know what countries have a higher frequency of mass public shootings than the US? Data from 2009 – 2015: Norway, France, Switzerland, Finland, Belgium, Austria, Czech Republic, Serbia, Macedonia, Albania, and Slovakia.

    And I’m only talking about Europe. We’ve got over 400 million guns!

  11. He changed magazines 15 times…..

    https://apnews.com/149034eeb9f847749f2b8b6148b193da/The-Latest:-15-magazines-of-30-rounds-each-found-at-church

    Texas law enforcement authorities say the gunman who killed 26 members of a church on Sunday was shot three times, twice by a citizen.

    Texas Department of Public Safety Regional Director Freeman Martin says Devin Patrick Kelley was shot in his leg and torso by a citizen who pursued him after hearing gunfire. Martin says the third was, “consistent with being self-inflicted.”

    Authorities say they’ve collected hundreds of shell casings and 15 magazines that hold 30 rounds each at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, where Kelley opened fire Sunday.

    • They’re still saying he shot himself in the head while in motion on the road, when our hero fairly clearly recalls hitting him in the upper neck/head during the chase?

  12. Ah, the nebulous “do something” plea that is never defined as to what “something” is. They all just want to “do something”, it matters not if it’s effective, what matters is that it looks like they are doing something to be your guardian and protector, so you have reason to vote them back in office. As stated here time and time again, laws prevent nothing, they only punish people after the fact. You can’t legislate away crazy or evil and this guy wasn’t crazy

  13. “None of this is inevitable.”

    It absolutely is inevitable if you support the idea that the American people enjoy a certain degree of freedom and privacy.

  14. “The paralysis you feel right now – the impotent helplessness that washes over you as news of another mass slaughter scrolls across the television screen”…

    I did not feel paralyzed or helpless. I felt the opposite. I feel empowered because I have the correct equipment and training necessary to stop an event such as this. Maybe Senator blahblahblah should encourage others to obtain the same equipment and training.

    • Exactly. Be aware of your surroundings, think about where you are going, have an escape plan, think cover and concealment options, and if you’re ok with guns and can legally carry consider doing so.

      I carry because I absolutely refuse to let someone else think they are going to “play God” and wield the power of life and death over me or others with or around me — without me having the opportunity to “return the favor”. I’m a violent criminal’s worst nightmare…

      And yes, I carry concealed in those so called “gun free” zones. And if I can’t get in because there’s a metal detector then there i will not go.

  15. As long as we have no vetting of second hand gun sales a criminal or nut case can walk right out of prison and buy all the assault rifles and ammo he wants and mass shootings will continue be a weekly occurrence.

    As long as gun owners are not required to get a firearms i.d. card proving they have not had severe mental problems we will continue to have mass shootings.

    As long as States with lax gun laws continue to funnel guns into States and Cities with tough gun laws blood on our city streets will continue to flow like rivers down the pavements.

    As long as gun owners and gun stores are not required to put guns in safes nut cases and criminals only need to kick down the door and walk off with all the deadly weapons and ammo they wish.

    As long as we have a Congressional System that is set up on pure bribery nothing will be done to stop the disintegration of our society into madness and mayhem as a way of life.

    As long as we continue to ignore what has worked in civilized countries in regards to keeping deadly weapons out of the hands of nut cases and criminals mass shootings will continue to be a way of life and city gun battles between street punks will be considered normal.

    As long as people can keep guns lying around the house 10,000 children a year will continue to be maimed and killed by loaded guns that were not locked up and out of reach of children.

    As long as we continue to do nothing it will result eventually in the loss of all gun rights and remember just about every draconian gun law and confiscation has already been ruled Constitutional by the courts (even though it is un-Constitutional) proving the Constitution does not say what it says it means it means what the Courts say it means and they always vote with public opinion and 65 per cent of the public do not own guns and would like to see all of them outlawed altogether. Yes the Constitution is not worth the paper it is printed on and the courts have ignored it over and over again down through the many decades of its existence.

    People in power want absolute power and getting rid of guns is one way for them to gain absolute power and slowly but surely they have been tightening the gun ban noose around gun owners necks and with the government and public opinion on their side you may as well take the Constitution and wipe your ass with it.

    • 63% of the public DO own guns.
      http://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2015/04/FT_15.04.01_guns_Safer.png

      US gun murder is down 65% in the past 25 years as guns and ownership INCREASED

      Fact is the US is one of the SAFEST places in the developed world for non criminals. If you are not a criminal you are safer in the US from homicide risk than Canada, Australia or the European average. Study after study shows 90% of US murder is criminals killing criminals.

      And support for gun control has been falling on 40, 30, 20 10 year trends. How do you get support is rising?

    • “As long as people can keep guns lying around the house 10,000 children a year will continue to be maimed and killed by loaded guns that were not locked up and out of reach of children.”

      The Maryland study show that in 300 cases examined 296 involved criminals owned illegal owned guns domiciled in the home. A criminal domiciled in the home also elevates risk of sexual assault of children by 5,000%, death by knife or death beating of children.

      The issue is not guns. We clearly need laws making it illegal for criminal to be domiciled in homes with minors.

    • I bought a pistol in a private transaction this weekend. I am not a nut or crazy. Why do you want to take that right away from me?

      • Nut or crazy might depend on what pistol you bought and how much you payed, was it a chrome plated Glock with pearl handled grips? Lol

    • of all your hyperbole and numbers that are wrong, I’ll only jump on one since I’m sure the rest will jump on them, there average only 600 accidental deaths with guns per year. Don’t let that stop your biblical, apocalyptic, long winded diatribe though. It’s entertaining.

    • Why are you here? Who are you trying to convince? Don’t you have a Moms Demand meeting to attend? Seriously, no one here cares what you write and never will, but keep on wasting your time given you are obviously unemployed.

  16. Even a blind man can see this was not a gun issue! It was the failure of the very system dumbassocrats have supported to prevent the shooter from obtaining a gun. Their whole system to prevent another shooter failed. He purchased the guns legally because the BACKGROUND CHECK PASSED HIM! EVERY TIME! DUMB ASS POLECATS! Now because your exalted regulations failed you turn to blaming the gun! Most worthless beings on this planet are the dumbassocrats and liberals!

  17. The chances of your being a victim in one of the 130 mass shooting incidents since the first one in the 1960’s that took place in Texas is one in some unfathomable hundreds of millions number. I can safely say it’s not going to happen to you, much less anyone you know, not likely anyone they know. Yes, they happen and certainly they are horrible. But you might as well worry about being caught in one as being struck by lightning on a clear blue day. And this politician’s “solution” is — what. Right, exactly. Unworkable, untenable, impractical, hysteria driven and in violation of my 2nd Amendment rights, which I will not tolerate as an American. So. Let’s try this. Before ever more onerous gun laws are passed … lets enforce the hundreds, nay thousands, already on the books, shall we?

    • Good grief, John… why in the world would you want old infringements? They are all useless at preventing problems for ordinary people, and very useful for preserving the power of those who would control everyone else.

      NO indeed, there is no rational good in any old “gun control,” any more than in any new “laws” that infringe on the right of people to be self defenders and self reliant.

  18. I feel a need to reply with some sense and truth to this politician’s claims. There are so many inaccuracies, misdirections, and subtle lies in this frantic statement that it’s a bit stunning…
    1) America is not by any means the only country that has to deal with terrorism, and 2) it is much worse in countries where the citizens are not allowed to defend themselves.

    3) The only blood that flows endlessly down church floors is the saving blood of Jesus. Other than that, Americans have far more freedom to worship in peace than any other Christians in this world.

    And 4) the current congress is not responsible for our freedoms to defend ourselves from enemies foreign and domestic. That was insured by the wisdom of the founders as a constitutional right, for situations like this. 

    What happened is certainly tragic, but Jesus said we should not be surprised when the world hates us as it did Him. We live in a fallen world. Jesus said there would be no peace, except in the heart of the saved, until He comes to establish His kingdom.

  19. 17,342 murders, rapes and other crimes STOPPED by gun owners for every death in a mass shooting in the US, according to the LOWEST estimate of crime prevented by gun owners in the National Academy of Science 2013 report. More than 50,000 crimes prevented by citizen gun owners for each death in a mass shooting in the average of estimates.

  20. I sort of agreed with you, then you spouted out this: “I know this because no other country endures this pace of mass carnage like America”

    Which is crap.

    Soooo no. Take a hike. Get some real facts. Then try again.

  21. “Do something!” OK, what? Be specific and give details.
    Let’s review the gun laws. There are thousands at the local, state and national level. How many can be repealed? Should a law that fails be ended?
    The “View” just has a host talk about how prayer didn’t prevent the church shooting. Well, neither did all those gun laws. You want to disrespect prayer. Then you need to take an honest look at the gun laws

  22. “My heart dropped further when I thought about the growing macabre club of families in Las Vegas and Orlando and Charleston and Newtown, who have to relive their own day of horror every time another mass killing occurs.”

    Yet he doesn’t spare a single thought for the thousands of families in Chicago and other liberal sanctuary cities who have lost loved ones to the violence endemic to poverty and gangs and drugs, who have to relive their horror on a daily basis.

    It only matters when a white man is doing the killing.

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