Sen. Chris Murphy begs Congress for gun control in impactful speech

In the wake of the Uvalde, Texas elementary school shooting in which at least 19 children and two adults were killed, a congressman gave a rousing speech.

Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy asked his colleagues repeatedly, in an emotional speech on the Senate floor on Tuesday, what they were doing to stop the nation's gun violence crisis.

During his speech, Murphy put his hands together and pleaded with Republicans to help Democrats pass meaningful gun reform legislation.

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He asked his Republican colleagues why they didn't do anything as the slaughter increased. Democrats have failed to pass any meaningful gun legislation despite being blamed for their devotion to the gun lobby.

Just days after a shooter walked into a grocery store, to gun down African American patrons, we have another Sandy Hook on our hands, according to Murphy. He said that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in December of 2012 will never be the same as it was in Texas. Not much has been done to stop gun violence since Sandy Hook.

Sen. Murphy is calling for changes to legislation because he says it happens nowhere else but in the United States of America. There were more guns in circulation in the U.S. than the nation with the second highest number of gun ownership.

This isn't inevitable. These kids were not unlucky. Murphy said that this only happens in this country and nowhere else. It is our choice to allow it to continue.

There hasn't been more gun control legislation since Sandy Hook, according to a mass shooting expert. Maybe it's the gun lobby. Maybe it has become politicized and ideological, but it should be treated as a public health measure.

Murphy told reporters after his speech that the line Republicans tend to use in the wake of mass shootings is abullshit. People with mental illnesses are more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators, according to the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence.

We don't have more mental illness than any other country. Murphy told reporters that we are not an outlier when it comes to access to firearms. That is what makes America different.