Connecticut’s two U.S. senators renewed their call for Congressional action on gun control measures on Monday in response to Sunday’s mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy’s first call for Congressional action on gun control followed the December 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. That effort failed in the U.S. Senate. With the Orlando nightclub massacre, now the deadliest mass shooting in recent U.S. history, Blumenthal says it’s time for Congress to take action, starting with a ban on assault weapons, such as the AR-15 that was used in both Newtown and Orlando.
“They are weapons of destruction designed to kill as many people as quickly as possible. And that’s why they are used repeatedly in these mass murders.”
Murphy says Congress should also pass legislation to prevent people on the terror watch lists from purchasing guns.
“It makes no sense that if you have had an intersection with the FBI that causes you to be denied access to a plane, that you would still be able to walk into a gun store and buy hundreds of rounds of ammunition and dozens of guns.”
U.S. Representative Elizabeth Esty (D-5), whose Congressional district includes Newtown, joined the two senators at their news conference in Hartford. She says this is a time for the country to come together to take on the threat of terrorism and hate.
