Senate Democrat Chris Murphy Writes Fox News Op-Ed Pleading for Bipartisan Support on Gun Reforms: ‘Inaction Cannot Be Our Answer’

As America continues to debate guns in the aftermath of the Uvalde school shooting, Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) took his push for gun reforms to Fox News in an op-ed he wrote for the network.

Murphy has been a gun safety advocate for years, and he was at the forefront of renewed calls for change after the Robb Elementary School shooting left 19 children and 2 adults dead in Texas. On Thursday, Fox News published an op-ed written by Murphy in which he described the horror he felt while news of the massacre was breaking.

“When news started to trickle out about the horrific shooting in Uvalde, I was on my way to preside on the Senate floor,” Murphy began. “On the dais, I snuck quick glances at my phone and a pit began to form in my stomach. It was happening again. Another Sandy Hook. And all the questions began to arise. How did this happen again? Why can’t we do something to stop this slaughter?”

Murphy argued that while the Second Amendment affirms the right to bear arms, there ought to be limits in terms of who should be allowed to own a gun, and which kinds of weapons should be prohibited outside of the military. He also voiced his support for measures including increased background checks systems, upgrading school security, and providing more resources to for mental health.

For me, the only thing we cannot do is nothing. I’m a parent of two school-aged kids. I have a fourth grader who is just like so many of those students who lost their lives in Uvalde. It’s so hard being a kid these days, between social media and the pandemic. We should not accept that our children also have to deal with the anxiety of feeling unsafe every time they set foot in their school. Parents and children are scared, and Congress needs to do something about it.

Murphy concluded his op-ed by emphasizing “our agenda isn’t radical,” and that Republicans and Democrats must find a way to bring about “a small but meaningful set of changes to our nation’s gun laws” to prevent future shootings.

“Shooting after shooting after shooting has proved our current system is broken. There’s no perfect antidote that will save every life, but even a small step forward will save thousands,” he says. “My Republican colleagues and I don’t agree on much, but this time, I’m hopeful we can agree on this: inaction cannot be our answer.”