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Dem senator frustrated by inaction on guns begins filibuster

Posted at 8:22 PM, Jun 15, 2016
and last updated 2016-06-15 20:22:34-04

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Democratic senator from Connecticut is launching a filibuster

and demanding a vote on gun control measures. The move comes three days after 49 people were killed in a mass shooting in Orlando.

Sen. Chris Murphy is holding up action in the Senate floor, demanding that Republicans allow votes on those measures. He also referred to the 2012 shooting in his home state, when 20 children and six adults were shot at an elementary school in Newtown. He says he can’t look into the eyes of the children’s families and tell them that Congress has done nothing since.

Last December, Senate Republicans joined the National Rifle Association in opposing legislation that would have let the government bar sales of guns and explosives to people it suspects of being terrorists.

Despite the recent shootings, the prospects for legislation seem unlikely.