A GOP senator blocked a bill for universal background checks as the Santa Clarita high school shooting was unfolding
- As news broke about a school shooting at the Santa Clarica High School in California, the Senate was in the midst of debating legislation for universal background checks on all gun purchases.
- But a lone GOP senator squashed all consideration on behalf of Republicans, the Sacramento Bee first reported, as the shooting was unfolding halfway across the country.
- After Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy requested the House gun control bill be passed by unanimous consent - a roll-call vote where senators are on the record - Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith objected, saying more time was needed to consider and debate it.
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As news started to break about a school shooting at the Santa Clarica High School in California, the Senate was in the midst of debating legislation for universal background checks on all gun purchases that passed in the Democratic-led House earlier this year.
But a lone GOP senator squashed all consideration on behalf of Republicans, the Sacramento Bee first reported, as the shooting was unfolding halfway across the country.
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut tweeted at 10:47am he was planning to push the Senate to take up gun control legislation: "I'm about to go to the Senate floor to ask for unanimous consent to pass universal background checks."
He added: "Some will call me foolish for trying - one Republican objection and this fails."
Nine minutes later, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department tweeted there was a shooting underway at the Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California.
The legislation Murphy referred to had passed the House in February. It was the first major gun control legislation passed in over two decades, which would require universal background checks for all purchases and close loopholes for sales at gun shows and online.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, has refused to take it up in the upper chamber up to now.
After Murphy requested the House gun control bill be passed by unanimous consent - a roll-call vote where senators are on the record - Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi objected, saying more time was needed to consider and debate it.
"Many questions about this legislation need to be answered before it's forced upon law-abiding gun owners," Hyde-Smith said.
Hyde-Smith's office has not responded to Business Insider's request for comment.
Murphy was furious over the objection, ABC News reported.
"You're in the majority! You have the ability to pass legislation that you support, that Democrats can support as well," Murphy said to his Republican colleagues. "And the idea that we are just going to sit here and twiddle our thumbs week after week as 100 people are killed by guns [every day]... it's an abdication of our basic responsibility as United States senators," he said.
Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal, also of Connecticut, was speaking in support of the bill shortly after when an aide handed him a note informing him of the shooting in California.
"As I speak on the floor right now, there is a school shooting in Santa Clara, California," Blumenthal said, misstating the Santa Clarita location. "How can we turn the other way, how can we refuse to see that shooting in real time, demanding our attention, requiring our action?"
"The unconscionable loss of life is our responsibility," Blumenthal added.
Authorities in California say the gunman shot five students, killing two, before turning the gun on himself, the New York Times reported.