The senator who launched a nearly 15-hour-long quasi-filibuster over gun control this week said on Thursday that a bill to bar terror suspects from getting firearms being pushed by Senate Democrats might have prevented the Orlando shooter from getting a gun.
“I would say that there is an open question as to whether the legislation that Senator [Dianne] Feinstein is proposing would have stopped this man from getting a weapon,” Sen. Chris Murphy, Connecticut Democrat, said on CNN’s “New Day.” “Because it actually gives some broader discretion to the FBI to put on the list of people who can’t buy guns individuals they believe pose a risk [to] national security.”
“And so there is some broader discretion allowed to the FBI that might have put this guy on the list of those prohibited from purchasing a gun,” he said. “I think Senator Feinstein believes that, but I don’t think in general we can get caught in [the] trap whereby legislation is illegitimate if it wouldn’t have stopped the tragedy that happened last week.”
Omar Mateen, who killed 49 people and wounded 53 others at an Orlando nightclub Sunday, had been flagged by the FBI multiple times but was ultimately removed from a watch list and was able to purchase firearms legally.
Senate Democrats are re-upping a call for the legislation in the wake of the Orlando massacre. Mr. Murphy held the Senate floor for nearly 15 hours on Wednesday and Thursday to try to get commitments from Republican leaders to bring measures on banning terror suspects from getting guns and expanding background checks forward for consideration.
Mr. Murphy said he believes there’s a commitment to bring the measures before the Senate “either this week or next week.”
Mr. Murphy, who was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2012 just before the Newtown school shootings in December of that year, said people can’t get caught in the trap of being “forced to design a piece of legislation that would have definitively stopped the latest mass tragedy.”
“The fact of the matter is is that background checks wouldn’t have stopped the murders in Sandy Hook, but the families there are fighting hard for it because they know that it would stop thousands of people from getting illegal guns [on] the streets of our country,” he said.
A former U.S. House member, Mr. Murphy’s congressional district had included Newtown.
He said he understands the desire to find a solution to the last tragedy, but he predicted the families coming out of Orlando are going to be fighting for laws that would prevent other gun tragedies from happening.
“We can’t accept that the only point of leverage that we have are these mass shootings — that was the point of our filibuster yesterday, is that this is happening every day,” he said. “We have to use moments like we had yesterday to draw attention to this broader epidemic.”
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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