Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Money
  • Election 2020
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Money
    Election 2020
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism

Murphy gives gun background check bill ‘less than 50-50’ odds

  • Justice
  • by Ana Radelat
  • August 23, 2019
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

Kelan Lyons :: CT Mirror

U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy handicaps the political chances for new federal gun laws.

Sen. Chris Murphy on Friday said any attempt by Congress to approve a bill expanding FBI background checks of gun purchasers has a “less than 50-50” chance of success.

During a press conference in Hartford, Murphy said he spoke with White House legislative staff several times, most recently on Thursday evening, about support for new gun laws in the wake of mass shootings earlier this month in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio.

Murphy said President Donald Trump has wavered since he telephoned the Democratic senator to talk about new gun legislation.

“One weekend ago, the president called me and told me personally that he was indeed serious about moving forward together about what he called meaningful background checks legislation,” Murphy said. “Several days ago, some of his comments seemed to indicate that he was again backing away.”

Since the shootings earlier this month, in which 31 people were killed, Trump has spoken several times to Wayne LaPierre, chief executive of the National Rifle Association.

“He’s talking to the gun lobby much more frequently than he’s been talking to me,” Murphy said of Trump.

Trump echoed an NRA talking point at a recent rally in New Hampshire, saying gun violence is mainly a “mental-illness problem” and that “it is not the gun that pulls the trigger; it is the person holding the gun.”

And several days ago, the president told reporters that closing loopholes in the FBI’s background checks of potential gun purchasers may be a “slippery slope” that threatens 2nd Amendment rights.

Still, Murphy said White House officials told him the president is still committed to legislation to expand background checks. He also said the president is supportive of a separate bill being drafted by Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Sen Lindsay Graham, R-S.C. on “red flag” laws that allow the temporary seizure of weapons from those who are determined to be a danger to themselves or others.

Murphy also said if the president’s promise of support for those gun measures is “a ruse…we will know in short order.

“I made it clear to the White House that if they are going to give the NRA veto power” this would be “a waste of time,” Murphy said, adding that any attempt by the president to tie the greater institutionalization of people with mental illnesses to a background check bill is a “nonstarter.”

He said  he will speak to Republican colleagues next week about the proposed gun bills.

“I’m going to try,” Murphy  said. “But I’m skeptical that that process will bear fruit.”

“I think the chances of success here are less than 50-50.”

A Newtown legacy

The campaign to close “loopholes” in the FBI’s background check process of prospective gun buyers began shortly after the massacre of 20 1st graders and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December of 2012.

But since that mass shooting, and those that followed, even a modest compromise bill, known as the Toomey-Manchin bill (named after Sens. Pat Toomey, R-Pa. and Joe Machin, D-W.Va.), has failed to garner enough support to pass in the Senate.

That bill would require sales at gun shows and by individuals over the internet to be subject to FBI background checks now mainly run on retail customers.

Murphy said he wants Congress to“support something that is stronger” than the Toomey-Manchin bill, even if it falls short of the senator’s background check bill.

“I am a hard-liner on the issue of gun violence,” Murphy said. “But I am willing to sit down and talk.”

The FBI said it has rejected 633,000 applications for gun purchases in Connecticut from 1999 when it initiated the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, to Dec. 31, 2018.

Nearly 380,000 were rejected because the applicant had been found guilty of a felony, another 64,500 were rejected because the prospective gun purchaser had been adjudicated to have a mental illness, and 152,230 were denied because of state prohibitions. The rest of the applications were rejected because the applicant had committed a misdemeanor or for some other qualifying reason.

Gun control advocates say the NICS restrictions should be tightened, and, according to several polls, a great majority of the public agrees with that position.

Murphy said the issue of gun violence has energized “swing voters,” a key political demographic, and that could help his effort to win GOP support for a background check bill.

But he said the political prospects are better for a federal “red flag” law. Connecticut was the first state to approve a “red flag,” or extreme risk protection order law. The state implemented that law in 1999.

Since then, another 16 states have followed.

But Murphy said he’s concerned any red flag law that goes to the Senate for a vote will be too weak to be effective.

“If all it is is incentives for the states, then are those incentives big enough to convince those Republican governors and Republican state legislatures to adopt a law that the NRA opposes?” Murphy asked. “Most of these red states have governors and state legislatures who have pledge fealty to the NRA.”



Active Records Nics Indices by State 2018 (Text)

CT Mirror Reporter Kelon Lyons contributed to this story.

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ana Radelat Ana has written about politics and policy in Washington, D.C.. for Gannett, Thompson Reuters and UPI. She was a special correspondent for the Miami Herald, and a regular contributor to The New York TImes, Advertising Age and several other publications. She has also worked in broadcast journalism, for CNN and several local NPR stations. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Journalism.

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
Lamont appoints reformers, disability advocates to Police Officer Standards and Training Council
by Kelan Lyons

The appointments are a requirement of the police accountability bill passed over the summer in a special session.

Once controversial, Justice Andrew McDonald backed for reappointment to CT’s high court
by Mark Pazniokas

Blocked as chief justice, Andrew J. McDonald is a shoo-in for another term as a Supreme Court justice.

After killing his cousin, Clyde Meikle found purpose in prison through service. Now he’s asking to go home.
by Kelan Lyons

Clyde Meikle is a "poster boy candidate" for release from prison. If he can't get a sentence modification, who can?

CT’s U.S. Representatives join the vote to impeach President Trump, and the state braces for protests
by Mark Pazniokas

Donald J. Trump was impeached on a day when lawmakers in capitals like Hartford assessed threats that may await them.

Romano says slow fundraising prompted his resignation
by Mark Pazniokas

The timing of J.R. Romano's resignation, delivered Tuesday night, inevitably links it with the second impeachment of President Donald Trump.

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion Evidence not clear that Trump incited Capitol destruction
by Alan Calandro

Defending President Donald Trump is not popular and I have no interest in writing this other than adherence to truth. Recognizing the truth (if we can find it, which is not always possible of course) should make us be able to come together around that and move on with a common understanding.

Opinion Securing our nuclear legacy: An open letter to President-elect Joe Biden
by Erik Assadourian

Dear President-elect Biden: As you noted in a tweet shortly after protestors stormed the Capitol on Wednesday, “Today is a reminder, a painful one, that democracy is fragile.” Indeed it is. And so are nation-states.

Opinion Last votes of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others
by Gary A. Franks

Finally, the election season is over. The historic elections we saw in this cycle were intriguing. The runoff elections for the U.S. Senate in Georgia put a cap on the campaign season. For many people this could be described as a COVID-19 election. I would argue that this was an election influenced by a pandemic but determined by the killing of unarmed Black people with no adequate justice for the Black community.

Opinion Not just environmental problem; Killingly plant is a great target
by Joel Gordes

In 1990, I was one of five legislators to introduce the first climate change legislation that became PA 90-219, An Act Considering Climate Change, the most popular bill of that session. Back then I considered climate change a national security issue… and I still do.

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO