Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D) said Sunday that the tragic killing of 20 children in a mass shooting last week would “spur and transform” the national debate over gun violence.
“I'm hearing from the community, as well as my colleagues in law enforcement, we need to do something,” Blumenthal said on ABC’s “This Week.” “I'm hearing from my colleagues in the Senate around the country, some in states like Wisconsin and Colorado, where there have been similar horrific, horrible tragedies.”
Friday’s shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. was the nation’s second deadliest school shooting and has sparked renewed calls from gun-control advocates for new measures restricting the sale of firearms.
President Obama on Friday also called for “meaningful action” to prevent such incidents from happening again.
Blumenthal said that he would speak with his colleagues, but would not discuss specifics today out of respect for those still grieving.
“I intend to talk about it on the floor of the United States Senate perhaps as early as this week,” he added.
He, however, suggested that lawmakers may look at the “the high-capacity magazines that were used in this crime.”
Also appearing on ABC, Sen.-elect Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said he believed the “tipping point should have happened a long time.”
Murphy cautioned that efforts to stem gun violence would be a long process.
“We have to acknowledge that there is no simple solution, that, yes, there needs to be a conversation about gun control, but also about the way we treat mental illness, also about the culture of violence in this country, which may have contributed to the way in which this very disturbed young man thought,” said Murphy.
“This is going to be a very complicated process of asking why, but we also have to admit that it's going to be a very complicated process figuring out what to do from here,” Murphy added. “The time for sort of saying that we can't talk about the policy implications of tragedies like this is over.”
