As information about the mass shooting in San Bernadino, California spread through social media on Wednesday evening, Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut responded with a Tweet that has been liked and shared thousands of times, but was also criticized as “prayer shaming.”
“Oh god. Not again,” Murphy Tweeted, followed by, “Your "thoughts" should be about steps to take to stop this carnage. Your "prayers" should be for forgiveness if you do nothing - again.”
That comment was retweeted and liked, but some responded that they found his comment highly offensive.
That message, Murphy said on Thursday, was meant as a message to his colleagues last night and he said Congress members’ responsibility is to protect people by changing the laws to keep “bad guys off the street and keep guns out of their hands.”
Police said on Thursday that they found an arsenal in the home of the couple suspected in carrying out the mass shooting, including 12 pipe bombs, 2,000 9mm rounds, more than 2500 .223-caliber rounds and “several hundred” 22 long rifle rounds. http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/national-international/San-Bernardino-Mass-Shooting-Syed-Rizwan-Farook-Tashfeen-Malik-360454741.html
“What we’re paid to do in Washington is not just send thoughts and prayers. We’re paid to actually try to change the laws to make people safer and we’re just not doing that,” Murphy said. “That was my message last night, that if you’re really serious about sending thoughts and prayers, then you’ve got to be serious about actually trying to protect people by changing the laws of this country.“
The California shooting happened just days before the third anniversary of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown that killed 26 people. Murphy was in Newtown that day when the governor broke the news to families of the victims.
“There’s an indescribable shock that comes to these communities in the wake of a tragedy. I was in Sandy Hook that day, but I was largely a bystander watching this unspeakable grief unfold,” Murphy said, looking back on one of the darkest days for the state. “Of course, Newtown is still going through this today. The ripple effects of that day in 2012 haven’t left that community. There’s been a lot of recovery, but still there’s a lot (of) unfolding grief and I wish that there weren’t so many communities that have gone through this.”
Murphy said he hopes people in Sandy Hook, as well as other who have gone through tragedies, can reach out to the people of San Bernardino and offer them advice and how to live through this and to persevere as they deal with grief and begin to mourn.
What Murphy wants to see if for lawmakers to change the mental health system and tighten the gun laws.
“We’re not putting more law enforcement out on the street to catch bad guys. What upsets me so much is that the response from many of my colleagues just seems to be sympathy instead of doing what we can together to combat this. Who knows what the motivations are of this shooting? But, whatever they are, it’s going to educate us as policymakers to try and make sure it doesn’t happen again, but there’s just not a lot of people having that conversation in Washington right now and that’s what upsets me.”
Some referred to Murphy’s Tweet yesterday as “prayer shaming” and the Senator responded by saying he’s sent out a lot of thoughts and prayers in the wake of shootings, but that is not enough to make them stop.
“(M)y message is that if your serious about sending your thoughts, if you’re serious about sending your prayers for the victims, then you also have to be serious about action. You have to be serious about changing the laws in this country -- whether it’s gun laws, mental health laws or law enforcement laws -- to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Murphy said.
Murphy’s Tweet came as police in San Bernadino were still trying to determine what they were dealing with and there was criticism that it was too soon to focus on politics.
Murphy said talking about changing gun laws or mental health laws in the wake of a shooting isn’t politicizing it.
“It’s trying to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Murphy said. “So this standard that people use that says you can’t talk about policy 48 or 72 hours after a mass shooting is simply a mechanism to force Congress to do nothing, to reinforce the status quo and I just won’t accept that.”
Murphy said he wants Congress to spend the rest of the year working to figure out ways to come together around the mental health bill that he’s written, as well as around changes to gun laws.
“I understand that with Republicans in charge of the House and Senate, we may not pass a big backgrounds check bill or a series of changes to our gun laws but I’ve been working really hard with Republicans in the Senate and the House to build consensus around changing our mental health system,” Murphy said.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
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