On 13th Anniversary Of Sandy Hook Shooting, Murphy Responds To Yet Another Mass Shooting On CNN's State of the Union

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Sunday joined Dana Bash on CNN's State of the Union to discuss the horrifying shooting at Brown University that left two students dead and nine wounded. On the 13th anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting, Murphy spoke about how a mass shooting affects a community, the kinds of policies that can prevent tragedies like these from happening, and Donald Trump's efforts to undo the progress that has been made in reducing gun violence.

Murphy argued we should not accept a new normal where kids are gunned down in their classrooms, communities are left with irreparable trauma, and survivors live in constant fear of the next shooting: "What I know is that a community never, ever recovers from a shooting like this, and the trauma and the cost is not just in the lives lost. Obviously we are mourning most deeply for those that were killed and those that were wounded, hoping that there are no more fatalities. But that community in Providence won't recover. Those kids who are returning to campus, are going to be looking over their shoulder, wondering whether they are going to survive their next day in class - as kids all across America do, every single day that they show up in their classroom wondering whether they someday are going to have to flee for their lives.

"We think maybe at least two of the kids at this shooting had already survived a previous shooting when they were in elementary and secondary school. That is just just not a reality that we should accept in this nation for our kids."

Murphy refuted the tired notion that stronger gun laws have a minimal effect on preventing mass shootings: "The laws do make a difference. I mean, if you look at states like Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, California that have stronger laws, we have gun violence rates, murder rates, mass shooting rates that are two to 3 to 4 times lower than states that have loose gun laws. And many of the weapons that are used in our states for gun crimes come to our states from those states that have an ability for criminals and people with serious mental illness to buy weapons. So what we know is that stronger laws do work. And since we passed [The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act] in 2022, the first bill in 30 years that strengthens the nation's gun laws, gun violence rates and mass shooting rates have come down in this country."

Murphy accused President Trump of engaging in a deliberate campaign to make gun violence more likely in this country: "Over the last year, President Trump has been engaged in a dizzying campaign to increase violence in this country. He is restoring gun rights to felons and people who have lost their ability to buy guns. He eliminated the White House Office of Gun Violence [Prevention] , and he has stopped funding mental health grants and community anti-gun violence grants that Republicans and Democrats supported in that 2022 bill. So he has been engaged in a pretty deliberate campaign to try to make violence more likely in this country. And I think you're unfortunately going to see the results of that on the streets of America… The evidence tells you that when you stop funding mental health, when you stop funding community anti-gun violence programs, when you give gun rights back to dangerous people, you are going to have an increase in violence that is knowable and that is foreseeable."

Murphy emphasized any conversation around gun violence must take into account a male loneliness epidemic in which disaffected young men often turn to violence: "We have an epidemic in this country of young men who are going through some deep, deep issues that end up taking out their anger in mass violence. We have a broader loneliness epidemic in this country. And what we know when we look at these shooters is that they tend to all follow the same pattern. They have some break with their community, with their peers, and they start to withdraw into a life of isolation. And so that's why in that bill in 2022, we put billions of dollars into the kind of support services that would recognize, especially these young men before it's too late and wrap around the kind of services for them that could make a difference…So, yes, we have to acknowledge that the most important thing is to stop that brain that is breaking from getting access to a weapon. But we should also be putting services around those kids, especially those young men who are retreating into that life of isolation. And it's just a lot harder to do that now, since the president has, I think, illegally stopped funding the bipartisan commitment we made to try to help those young people in crisis."

A full transcript of the interview is available below.

Dana Bash: Here with me now is someone all too familiar with mass shootings like this, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, elected to the Senate just weeks before the horrific Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, which was 13 years ago today. Just as you see what's happening in Rhode Island, not too far from your home state of Connecticut, your reaction?

Murphy: Yeah. I mean, what I think about when one of these mass shootings happens is that community in Sandy Hook. Those parents, when they see these images on television, are always having to relive the horror of that day. And of course, it's especially tragic, given that we are marking 13 years since that shooting. What I know is that a community never, ever recovers from a shooting like this, and the trauma and the cost is not just in the lives lost. Obviously, we

are mourning most deeply for those that were killed and those that were wounded, hoping that there are no more fatalities. But that community in Providence won't recover. Those kids who are returning to campus, are going to be looking over their shoulder, wondering whether they are going to survive their next day in class - as kids all across America do, every single day that they show up in their classroom wondering whether they someday are going to have to flee for their lives.

We think maybe at least two of the kids at this shooting had already survived a previous shooting when they were in elementary and secondary school. That is just just not a reality that we should accept in this nation for our kids. Unfortunately, right now we don't have the leadership in Washington to do anything, anything to respond to the shooting this weekend.

Dana Bash: Yeah, well, we haven't had the wherewithal to do anything in Washington. I mean, we did a little bit a few years ago, but [anything] of means for years and years and years. But having said that, Rhode Island has some pretty strict gun laws. They have universal background checks, red flag laws, waiting periods to purchase a gun. So this is about - and we've talked about this - much more than gun violence. It is gun violence. But the laws could be stronger. But they're stronger than other places in Rhode Island.

Murphy: Well, but the laws do make a difference. I mean, if you look at states like Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, California that have stronger laws, we have gun violence rates, murder rates, mass shooting rates that are two to 3 to 4 times lower than states that have loose gun laws. And many of the weapons that are used in our states for gun crimes come to our states from those states that have an ability for criminals and people with serious mental illness to buy weapons. So what we know is that stronger laws do work. And since we passed that bill in 2022, the first bill in 30 years that strengthens the nation's gun laws, gun violence rates and mass shooting rates have come down in this country. But this is not shocking because over the last year, President Trump has been engaged in a dizzying campaign to increase violence in this country. He is restoring gun rights to felons and people who have lost their ability to buy guns. He eliminated the White House Office of Gun Violence [Prevention] , and he has stopped funding mental health grants and community anti-gun violence grants that Republicans and Democrats supported in that 2022 bill. So he has been engaged in a pretty deliberate campaign to try to make violence more likely in this country. And I think you're unfortunately going to see the results of that on the streets of America.

Dana Bash: That's a pretty big statement. He's in a campaign to make violence more likely.

Murphy: Of course. I mean, he's knowingly restoring gun rights to dangerous people. He is cutting off grants that have bipartisan support to try to interrupt violence in our cities or to try to get necessary mental health resources to families and children in need. The evidence tells you that when you stop funding mental health, when you stop funding community anti-gun violence programs, when you give gun rights back to dangerous people, you are going to have an increase in violence that is knowable and that is foreseeable.

Dana Bash: This is probably a question I know the answer to, but I have to ask it anyway. There is the climate, and then in Washington and then there is the reality of the conversations. I know you and your colleagues have, across party lines on capitol hill, and it did happen when you worked with John Cornyn, the Republican, and others to make that narrow bill happen, a few years ago. Do you think that there is any appetite for any discussion right now?

Murphy: I mean, of course I will try. And, you know, a month or two before we passed that bill in 2022, people would have said, no way. There's no way Democrats and Republicans can come together. But after Uvalde, things changed. And we were able to get a narrow but important agreement. So, I will never stop trying to get bipartisan support. But I think it is pretty clear that President Trump and this White House are in the pocket of the gun lobby. I just don't foresee that this White House is going to support anything that would cross the gun industry. And as we know right now, unfortunately, the Republicans in Congress don't ever meaningfully break from this President. So until they get the okay from President Trump to break with the gun lobby, I think the chances of us getting something done are slim. That doesn't mean I won't try.

Dana Bash: Can we talk about the other aspect? We don't, just want to be clear, we don't know anything about the shooter. We don't know the motive. We don't know specifically the age or anything. But another thing that you have talked extensively about is the epidemic of loneliness and the problems that, in addition to the epidemic of having too many, from your perspective, too many guns on the street, you know, have this cocktail of violence.

Murphy: Yeah. Listen, I do think it's important to understand that you know, we have an epidemic in this country of young men who are going through some deep, deep issues that end up taking out their anger in mass violence. We have a broader loneliness epidemic in this country. And what we know when we look at these shooters is that they tend to all follow the same pattern. They have some break with their community, with their peers, and they start to withdraw into a life of isolation. And so that's why in that bill in 2022, we put billions of dollars into the kind of support services that would recognize, especially these young men before it's too late and wrap around the kind of services for them that could make a difference. That's why it's so tragic that president trump shut down that grant program as one of the first things he did in his second term. So, yes, we have to acknowledge that the most important thing is to stop that brain that is breaking from getting access to a weapon. But we should also be putting services around those kids, especially those young men who are retreating into that life of isolation. And it's just a lot harder to do that now, since the president has, I think, illegally stopped funding the bipartisan commitment we made to try to help those young people in crisis.

Dana Bash: Is there anything that you can do? I mean, I know that there are lawsuits and so forth to try to get that funding back up and running.

Murphy: Well, I do wish that Republicans would stand up to the president on this issue. That wasn't the controversial part of our bill. I think if that bill was just funding for mental health and community anti-gun violence programs, we might have gotten 90 votes for it. So maybe in the wake of this shooting, maybe as we learn more about this shooter, we'll get a handful of Republicans in the Senate or the House, maybe the ones that voted for that bill to say to President Trump, restore the money for at least the programs in that bill that would make a difference.

Dana Bash: So just to go back to where we started, another New England town is devastated by this violence. And again, it is 13 years after Sandy Hook. You must just be exhausted. I mean, I think the country is exhausted.

Murphy: Yeah, I think the country is exhausted. I think our kids are exhausted. And I do think it's important to remember that it is a little dangerous to view this crisis only through the prism of these mass shootings. Yes. There is something different about kids being targeted in a college or in a school classroom. But I live in the south end of Hartford, and when I talk to kids in that neighborhood, for them, the school is the safe place. What they fear is the walk to and from school. My neighborhood has thousands of kids, but you rarely ever see them out in the streets because their parents and grandparents who take care of them don't let them out of the house, ever. And so what we need to understand is that this choice we've made in this nation to subject our kids to daily exposure to violence, is not just about what happens inside the school. For many kids in our violent urban neighborhoods, it's about the trauma that is breaking their brains, that is causing them to be unable to learn, because every single day they are fearing for their lives, and every month they have a friend, a cousin, somebody they know that is gunned down in the streets. So it is just important for us, especially on a day like today when we're thinking about mass shootings, to remember that there are kids in this country who are facing that risk of daily street violence every single day.

Dana Bash: Senator Chris Murphy, thank you so much for being here. Sorry. We ended up talking about something that we had not planned.

Murphy: It's important.

Dana Bash: But it is important. Thank you. Thank you.