Senator Chris Murphy on his decades long-fight for gun reform: 'We value white life in this country more than Black life'
- Sen. Chris Murphy was asked how bipartisan gun legislation would address urban gun violence.
- Murphy said, "when white people are killed, this country pays attention in a way that they don't when Black people are killed."
Sen. Chris Murphy said, "we value white life in this country more than Black life" when asked about the bipartisan gun legislation in an interview with PBS.
Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, has been at the forefront of a bill introduced last month after the mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas.
Speaking with Margaret Hoover on how the bill would address urban gun violence, Murphy said "when white people are killed, this country pays attention in a way that they don't when Black people are killed."
He proceeded to tell a story about a father who was shot and killed in Baltimore and how the reaction to this tragedy would be much different if the incident occurred in a white suburban town. "That would be national news," he told Hoover.
On June 25, President Biden signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which would expand background checks and close the "boyfriend loophole," which would prevent convicted domestic abusers from owning a gun.
Murphy has advocated for gun reform since the shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school in 2012, where 27 people were murdered.