(ConservativeSense.com) – Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut aimed at former Vice President Mike Pence this week, criticizing the Republican’s proposal to administer the death penalty to mass shooters.
Murphy appeared on CBS on Tuesday and said Pence’s proposal “shows how little” the former vice president “understands about the gun violence epidemic” in America. According to Murphy, “most mass shooters” are trying to commit suicide, so threatening them with the death penalty won’t do anything to mitigate the problem. He said Pence’s comments show he “doesn’t know what he’s talking about” if he thinks threatening them with such capital punishment will make the number of shootings go down.
Pence made the remarks in April in Indianapolis at a summit for the National Rifle Association (NRA), a few weeks after Audrey Hale gunned down three staff members and three nine-year-old children at a Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee.
Murphy has been one of the most vocal and diehard advocates for gun control in the Senate and says the Republican Party “don’t seem to give a crap” about the children dying from gun violence.
He’s also spearheaded multiple bipartisan attempts to pass new legislation for gun control through the Senate, most of which have failed to pass except for a gun safety bill that made it through last year with every Democrat onboard and 15 Republicans. The bill expanded background checks, gave funding to programs on gun safety and mental health services, and more.
Murphy maintains that focusing on punishment will not stop mass shootings, “but on prevention. The senator believes “the most important thing” that can be done to curb the incidents is making sure “mass shooters can’t have access to military weapons,” specifically citing AR-15s as weapons that need to be kept “out of the hands of these killers.”
The senator believes the GOP “is in the midst of change” and that more will come around to realize “the general electorate” wants to ban assault weapons and “universal background checks” for firearm purchases.
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