Trump Just Gave A Speech To The NRA. This Senator’s Response Is Powerful
Today, President Trump became the first sitting president since 1983 to address the National Rifle Association. At the time, the NRA was an organization primarily focused on hunting and even in encouraged gun safety. Since then, it has become the powerful lobbying wing of America’s bloated firearm industrial complex, endangering public safety, demeaning victims, and promoting gun ownership at all costs — even fighting common sense protections supported by its own membership to appease the wealthy gunmakers that fund it.
Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), the Senate’s leading voice against America’s gun violence epidemic, was not about to let Trump’s historically bad decision go unchallenged. Murphy, who was deeply affected by the 2012 massacre of 20 children and six adults in his home state, made sure that victims of gun violence would not be ignored.
First, as Trump prepared to suck up to his big money NRA backers by minimizing their deadly threat, Murphy sent two tweets with some advice for how to commemorate the occasion:
.@realDonaldTrump about to take stage at NRA, to celebrate right of criminals to own guns, to glorify weapons that kill
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) April 28, 2017
Here's my advice. Turn off cable. Don't watch @realDonaldTrump's NRA speech. Instead, think about who we are fighting for.
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) April 28, 2017
Next, the Senator shared just a few of the names and faces of lives taken by gun violence:
Ana Márquez-Greene, age 6 pic.twitter.com/DUIzU3M3mG
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) April 28, 2017
Jessica Ghawi, age 24 pic.twitter.com/NX2BBOcwn3
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) April 28, 2017
Jordan Davis, age 17 pic.twitter.com/rVgwGA1xR1
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) April 28, 2017
Benjamin Wheeler, age 6 pic.twitter.com/doMU6ic8jW
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) April 28, 2017
Hadiya Pendleton, age 15 pic.twitter.com/BJ0WlPhpti
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) April 28, 2017
Alison Parker, age 24 pic.twitter.com/LiBXk87x6b
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) April 28, 2017
Daniel Barden, age 7 pic.twitter.com/mibt5SWKZF
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) April 28, 2017
Christopher Lavell Jones, age 17 pic.twitter.com/LnjSj4Dutu
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) April 28, 2017
Christopher Ross Michaels-Martinez, age 20 pic.twitter.com/45yrCwqKUM
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) April 28, 2017
Terrell Bosley, age 18 pic.twitter.com/mpqqGZ5CpG
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) April 28, 2017
Dylan Hockley, age 6 pic.twitter.com/YWd3RFQPCX
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) April 28, 2017
That's who we fight for. And with 90% of Americans and 80% of gun owners on our side, we can't lose. Let's get to it.
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) April 28, 2017
These are some of the more than 30,000 American lives cut short every year by gunfire. While Trump and the NRA ignore the victims, the work of heroes like Murphy ensure that their memories will continue to be honored and their tragic deaths will not have been in vain.
Sheila Norton is a writer with ten years of Capitol Hill experience. Subscribe to the OD Action email to get all the hottest news delivered right to your inbox every day at www.odaction.com