In response to the school mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) stormed the U.S. Senate floor and accused Republicans of allowing these kind of atrocities to take place through their inaction on common sense gun legislation.
“As we speak, there is a horrific scene playing out at a high school in South Florida,” Murphy began. “Turn on your television right now; you’re going to see scenes of children running for their lives. It’s what looks to be the [18]th school shooting in this country, and we have not even hit March.
He continued:
“I’m coming to the floor to talk about something else, but let me just note once again for my colleagues: this happens nowhere else other than the United States of America. This epidemic of mass slaughter, this scourge of school shooting after school shooting.
It only happens here not because of coincidence, not because of bad luck, but as a consequence of our inaction. We are responsible for a level of mass atrocity that happens in this country with zero parallel anywhere else.
As a parent, it scares me to death that this body doesn’t take seriously the safety of my children, and it seems like a lot of parents in South Florida are going to be asking that same question later today.
We pray for the families and for the victims. We hope for the best.”
There have been 18 school shootings in the first 45 days of 2018, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun control advocacy group.
Today’s shooting marks the first of the year in Florida. There were three shootings at different schools in Texas, two in different California schools and two in different Michigan schools, according to Everytown’s data. There are 10 other states that had at least one shooting.
