“Time for Congress to get off its ass”: Chris Murphy demands action after Las Vegas massacre

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said Monday that Congress must get “off its ass and do something” about gun violence after at least 50 people were killed in a mass shooting in Las Vegas.

The odds of immediate legislation to curb America’s gun violence problem are slim, given Republican control of both chambers. But Murphy, who was elected to the Senate one month after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that killed 20 children and six adults in his home state of Connecticut in 2012, reiterated his prior calls for Congress to take on the “gun industry.”

“This must stop,” he said in a statement. “It is positively infuriating that my colleagues in Congress are so afraid of the gun industry that they pretend there aren’t public policy responses to this epidemic. There are.”

Murphy has been a consistent advocate for gun control in Congress, and issued a similar statement after the San Bernardino, California, massacre that killed dozens of people in 2016. He also staged a 15-hour filibuster on the Senate floor after the shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

Several other prominent Democrats joined Murphy in demanding a response to the violence. Sens. Cory Booker (NJ), Elizabeth Warren (MA), and Martin Heinrich (NM) were among those who weighed in on the shooting on Monday morning:

Here’s Murphy’s statement in full:

My heart goes out to the victims, their families, the first responders, and the entire Las Vegas community. Nowhere but America do horrific large-scale mass shootings happen with this degree of regularity. Last night’s massacre may go down as the deadliest in our nation’s history, but already this year there have been more mass shootings than days in the year.

This must stop. It is positively infuriating that my colleagues in Congress are so afraid of the gun industry that they pretend there aren’t public policy responses to this epidemic. There are, and the thoughts and prayers of politicians are cruelly hollow if they are paired with continued legislative indifference. It’s time for Congress to get off its ass and do something.