Chris Murphy Praises Congressman for Reversing Gun Control Position, Says He Wishes It Didn’t Take a Mass Shooting in His District to Do So

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said he is glad Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) reversed his position on high-powered rifles in the wake of Wednesday’s mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine that left at least 18 dead.

However, said Murphy, he wishes it had not taken a tragedy in the congressman’s district to do so.

During Thursday’s edition of The Situation Room on CNN, Wolf Blitzer aired a clip of Golden speaking at a press conference earlier in the day in which he said he needs to “take responsibility.” Golden has opposed measures that would prohibit the sale of magazines containing more than 15 rounds.

“The time has now come for me to take responsibility for this failure, which is why I now call on the United States Congress to ban assault rifles like the one used by the sick perpetrator of this mass killing in my hometown of Lewiston, Maine,” Golden said. “For the good of my community, I will work with any colleague to get this done in the time that I have left in Congress.”

“Senator, what do you make of that?” Blitzer asked.

Murphy replied:

Well, I don’t know Representative Golden personally. I know that he’s a pretty conservative member of the House of Representatives. And he’s coming to the same reality that many others have, which is that these weapons don’t deserve to be on the streets of America. You can protect people’s Second Amendment rights, but just make sure that folks don’t have access to weapons of war.

But I wish it didn’t take members of Congress to have to experience a mass shooting in their own congressional district to come to this reality. I’m glad that Representative Golden has made this decision. But why does it have to happen over and over and over again to have these conversions? This is what America wants. Republicans and Democrats think that these weapons should be off the street, and it’s time that we get it done. We would save a ton of lives if we said, “You know what? These weapons belong in the hands of law enforcement and the military, not in the hands of civilians.”

The Republican-controlled House is highly unlikely to take up any legislation that would impose tighter gun restrictions. And though Democrats control the Senate, nine Republicans would have to join all 51 Democrats to break a filibuster to pass gun-related legislation.

Watch above via CNN.