Emotional Words from Blumenthal, Murphy, Victim's Families, and Aurora Victim after Background Check Amendment Fails

Story and Photo by Paula Antolini

This article contains words from Senator Richard Blumenthal, Senator Chris Murphy, members of the Sandy Hook Elementary School victims' families, and an Aurora shooting victim, spoken after the Senate failed to pass the background check amendment today, April 17, 2013.  

Senator Richard Blumenthal:

"Just to come right to the point. Today was heartbreaking, one of the saddest and shocking days of my life in public service, maybe my whole career. 

My heart goes out to the families, that the hardest part of today was really deciding how to explain to families that a 90% majority of American people and 54 Senators could vote for a measure and yet have it fail, when it would save lives like the innocent victims, children and teachers, who perished on December 14th.  That is beyond shocking and shameful for America and this day is not the end. 

In fact, as one of the family members said to me, 'It's not even close to the end.'  Though, I guess the first point here is, we're coming back. The issue and the cause are not going away. The Connecticut effect is not going away. The families of Newtown are not going away, and this bill is not going away, and the next step is not known precisely at this point but I am going to be asking for the people of Connecticut and the American people to rise up resoundingly and send a message to their senators that this outcome was unacceptable and unconscionable in light of the tragedy, the unspeakable and horrific tragedy in Newtown, but also the 3400 other innocent victims of gun violence who perished since December 14th.  

So we're not stopping here and I think what is most inspiring and uplifting are how resolute and resilient the families continue to be. They have literally brought us past hurdles that we thought we couldn't overcome. 

You'll remember that just four and a half months ago this issue was thought to be untouchable politically. About a week ago the 60 vote hurdle was thought to be unreachable, but they have turned the tide, and they are going to be turning the tide again, and what we'll change is the American people telling their senators they are aghast and outraged by this result, and I think that history is on our side, eventually we will prevail and I have the wristband that I referred to on the floor of the Senate today, it says, "We are Newtown,' 'We are Newtown and We Choose Love' and Senator Murphy said very eloquently much the same thing today that we are going to continue this battle. Senator Murphy."

Senator Chris Murphy:

"Thank you Senator Blumenthal. 

There was a sign that stood in the center of Newtown after the tragedy that said, 'Our hearts are broken our spirits are strong,' and I think that aptly reflects what Senator Blumenthal and I are feeling today.

I'm heartbroken that we couldn't get a better result, but I am absolutely confident that this is simply a temporary setback.

Let's be clear, we got 55 votes today on a background checks bill that would make our streets safer.  That made it absolutely shameful that a Republican filibuster stood in the way of 55 senators who wanted our laws to change. The filibuster did a perversion of democracy and today proves that more than any other day. 

Look, the NRA has just been lying through their teeth as they have opposed the background checks amendment, and I don't know what's worse, that the NRA lied, or that they got away with it. 

There're way too many senators that were cowed by an interest group whose power is simply not reflective of their actual political prowess, but there's gonna be a price to be paid for Senators that voted the wrong way. There's just no way you can cross 90% of the American public and get away with it.

Things have changed since Newtown. The nation has transformed. There's now a political infrastructure built up around gun violence reform, that has never been there before, and these families that made such a big difference over the past several weeks, aren't going away either.

Their lives changed on December 14th, just like my life changed, and just like Senator Blumenthal's life changed, but we are not going to rest until we get change here.  And I just want to add my thanks to the families.  They have shown such unbelievable courage in managing their grief and coming up to Capitol Hill to press for change. We wouldn't have gotten there this week without them. We would not have beaten back the Republican filibuster last week. We wouldn't have gotten someone like Pat Toomey and Joe Manchin to come to the table and agree to this compromise.

We lost the fight today but were gonna win this in the long run. Senator Reid committed himself to that today.  President Obama was as fiery as he ever has been, and I am not going to rest, not one day of one second, until we get the right result.  I mean you're gonna to see absolute outrage on the streets of this country after this vote today, and I wouldn't be surprised if we are back here one way or the other, in the near future, to revisit this vote.

At this point we've got four amazing people here with us today that we would love to have say a few words. People that you know well, Erica Lafferty, Carlee Soto, Neil Heslin and Steven Barton. 

So, Neil maybe if I can ask you, why don't you to come up to the table here so you're close to the mic today, and Neil why don't you just start off."

Neil Heslin (Father of Jesse Lewis):

"Yeah my name's Neil Heslin, I'm Jesse Lewis' dad. Jesse was brutally murdered December 14th at Sandy Hook Elementary School. It saddens me that the Congressmen didn't stand up to do what was right, stand up for my son Jesse and the other victims.  Jesse and those victims lost their lives to a coward.  We're not gonna to lose our fight too, to some cowardly Congressmen that chose not to make the right decision. We aren't gonna go away. This isn't the end of the battle, it's just the beginning of the fight. We're here to stay, Newtown's not gonna to be forgotten, nor is Sandy Hook Elementary and what happened that December day." 
 
Carlee Soto (Sister of Teacher Victoria Soto):

"Like everyone has said so far, we're not going away. This is just the beginning of this fight. We're here for the long run. I won't let what happened to my sister, and the other 25 people that have lost their lives on December 14th, be forgotten.  No one has to feel this pain and I wanna make it so no one has to feel this pain. Change will come over time and I'm very hopeful that it will, thanks to our Senators fighting with us."

Erica Lafferty (Daughter of Principal Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung):

"Hi my name is Erica Lafferty, I am the daughter of Dawn Hochsprung, Principal of Sandy Hook. I am honestly disgusted at the result of today's vote. However, I am not discouraged and I do not feel personally defeated. I have an amazing team to stand with and we absolutely will overcome this, and I just wanted to say thank you to really all of Connecticut for the overwhelming support for the past four months and especially in the couple of weeks and we are gonna keep going strong."

Steven Barton (Aurora shooting victim):

"My name is Steven Barton. I grew up in Southbury, Connecticut, right next to Sandy Hook, and I was shot last summer, shot and wounded in the Aurora Movie Theater, in the middle of a cross country trip. 

I spent the past two weeks meeting with Senators and their staffers on this issue, and you know, meeting with them along side other survivors of gun violence, from Sandy Hook, from Virginia Tech, Aurora Tucson, and I can't tell you how discouraging it is, how really insulting it is to sit across from them and have them talk about, you know, certain burdens, that a background check is a bridge too far. And to be sitting along side these people who know burden better than anyone else in this world, and so, you know, while this is a set back, you know, just let go what everyone else has said, that we're not leaving, and we're not going anywhere, and that we are going to continue this fight along side Senators Murphy and Blumenthal and the other 53 senators that stood with us today.

 Senator Chris Murphy:

"Our hearts are broken but our spirits are strong."