The Hill: Senate Speech on Gun Violence Interrupted by News of School Shooting

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 05: U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) (C) speaks as (L-R) Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA) listen during a news conference June 5, 2019 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Democratic lawmakers held a news conference to mark June as Gun Violence Prevention Month and to mark 100 days since House passage of H.R.8, the "Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019" to expand background checks to cover all gun sales and most transfers, and to call on Senate Majority Leader McConnell to hold a vote on the bill. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

In a grimly ironic coincidence, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) was in the midst of a speech on gun violence Thursday when he learned of the shooting at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita CA.

“We are complicit in these deaths if we fail to act,” Blumenthal said midway through his floor speech, responding to GOP senators blocking a vote on universal background checks, reports The Hill.

Then someone handed him a piece of paper.

Blumenthal read it, then said: “As I speak on the floor, right now, there is a school shooting in [Santa Clarita] California. How can we turn the other way?”

As I was on the Senate floor speaking about the need for universal background checks—after Rs blocked a vote today—I heard this devastating news. To the victims&families, we can't take back the loss&fear you're feeling, but we'll keep fighting to end this epidemic of violence. https://t.co/i3cqgBk1Sm pic.twitter.com/6Mg7L5NtR6
— Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) November 14, 2019

“It is not just a political responsibility,” he said, “it is a moral imperative.”

Shortly before Blumenthal spoke — at about the time the shooting started in California — Rep. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) had “objected to a motion to hear the background checks measure,” The Hill reports, quoting her as saying: “We can’t fast-track legislation that affects America’s Second Amendment rights.”