US Democratic Senator Murphy rules out ban on assault weapons

US Democratic Senator Chris Murphy has said that any potential deal on legislation would not include an assault weapons ban or “comprehensive” background checks despite a recent string of high-profile mass shootings in the country.  

Murphy, who is helping lead bipartisan gun reform talks in the Senate, told CNN on Sunday that negotiations are focused on mental health funding, school safety measures and “modest but impactful” gun control proposals.

“We’re not going to do everything I want,” said Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut. 

“We’re not going to put a piece of legislation on the table that’s going to ban assault weapons, or we’re not going to pass comprehensive background checks,” he said. “But right now, people in this country want us to make progress. They just don’t want the status quo to continue for another 30 years.”

On May 24, nineteen students and two teachers were shot and killed at Robb Elementary School by a gunman in Uvalde, Texas, 10 days after a mass shooting at a store in Buffalo, New York, left 10 people dead.

Police say the gunman, identified as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, entered the school with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle after earlier shooting his grandmother, who survived.

There have been conflicting accounts of how law enforcement responded to the shooting. The Department of Justice on Sunday said it would open an investigation into the police response at the request of Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin.

More than 45,000 people were killed by gun violence in the United States last year, up from 43,671 in 2020 and 39,581 in 2019, according to FBI data.

Hours after the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Murphy made an emotional plea on the Senate floor to lawmakers to act on gun control.

“What are we doing?” asked an angry Murphy, who represents a state where the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012 left 20 small children dead.

“Why do you spend all this time running for the United States Senate, why do you go through all the hassle of getting this job, of putting yourself in a position of authority, if your answer is that as this slaughter increases, as our kids run for their lives, we do nothing?” Murphy said. “What are we doing?”

“I understand my Republican colleagues will not agree to everything that I may support, but there is a common denominator that we can find,” Murphy added.

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“I’ve never been part of negotiations as serious as these,” Murphy said on Sunday. “There are more Republicans at the table talking about changing our gun laws and investing in mental health than at any time since Sandy Hook.”

 “I’ve also been part of many failed negotiations in the past,” Murphy said on CNN. “So I’m sober-minded about our chances.”

 “I think this week, we need to have concepts to present to our colleagues,” he said.

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