Chris Murphy Quotes

My career in Congress is a story of before Sandy Hook and after Sandy Hook.

We need to do something about gun violence in America. But every time one of these things happen, we say the same thing, and then we don't seem to be able to do anything. And that needs to change.

It doesn't matter if gun violence is down. We need to get guns and bullets and automatic weapons off the streets.

I'd like to see a comprehensive gun control bill brought to the floor, but if we have to do it in several votes, that's fine, too. But give us the vote. Let us make our case to our colleagues on the floor and have a vote.

The Brady Act was passed in response to what Congress described as an 'epidemic of gun violence.'

If we don't get gun-control laws in this country, we are full of beans. To have the National Rifle Association rule the United States is pathetic. And I agree with Mayor Michael Bloomberg: It's time to put up or shut up about gun control for both parties.

Stop using the word’s “gun control”. All the 2nd Amendment enthusiasts hear is CONTROL. Let’s use “gun violence”, “gun safety” and other terms that are less confrontational.

The vast majority of Americans are asking for common-sense legislation to protect our families, our friends, and our communities from gun violence.

In Connecticut, we have passed some of the strongest anti-gun-violence laws in the nation. We don't restrict anybody's Second Amendment rights.

I am for the Second Amendment, but I am for common-sense gun legislation.

We need a comprehensive strategy that includes expanding criminal background checks for all commercial gun sales, dedicated federal law to combat gun trafficking, and a strong commitment to mental health services.

I'm concerned about how and why there is no gun control.

If we have a president who asked for a mandate on combating gun violence, as Hillary Clinton is requesting, that's going to be really impactful. I will certainly defer to her when it comes to the exact pace and content of legislative action, but I expect it will be at the top of her agenda. It will certainly be at the top of mine.

I do not accept that we cannot find a common sense way to preserve our traditions, including our basic second amendment freedoms and the rights of law abiding gun owners, while at the same time reducing the gun violence that unleashes so much mayhem on a regular basis.

The first thing is we got to make sure we try to keep guns out of the wrong hands. And I want comprehensive background checks.

What is wrong with keeping guns out of the hands of the wrong people?

We've got to get guns out of the hands of people who should not have them.

What I would like to see is for people to come together and say: Of course we're going to protect and defend the Second Amendment. But we're going to do it in a way that tries to save some of these 33,000 lives that we lose every year.

We have to tackle the plague of gun violence.

I hope we will come together as a nation and do whatever it takes to keep guns away from people who have no business with them.

High taxes on guns and strong restrictions on their availability are the only realistic hope for avoiding many more Sandy Hooks.

If I were governor, and a bill came to my desk that provided for background checks at gun shows, I would sign that.

The assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy led directly to the passage of a historic law, the Gun Control Act of 1968.

Surely there are common-sense reforms that we should, and must, take in order to keep our children and our communities safe. I take these recommendations very seriously, and will listen to the voices of my constituents to ensure I do everything I can to help prevent gun violence.

I think after Sandy Hook, when Obama went out, and he talked a lot about gun control and met with the parents, there was a sense that something was going to happen. But then, I guess, the power of special interests was greater than public sentiment.