Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy said it’s a “false contract” to say lawmakers have to choose to either strengthening the nation’s gun laws or working on the mental health system.
Murphy, speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” said the debate on gun control often sets up as either strengthening gun laws or making it harder for mentally ill people to get guns. He said lawmakers need to do both.
“There’s this false contract that’s created: Either you have to work on mental health or you have to focus on strengthening our gun laws. That’s not true. You need to do all of it,” he said.
“We need to be working to identify kids like Adam Lanza earlier in getting them help, you need to acknowledge that those kids with that profile exist in every single country around the world. It’s only here that those kids turn to a weapon of mass destruction in order to deal with their demons. So you have to do both.”
Murphy and Texas Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican, have proposed a bill to overhaul the nation’s instant background check system. He said he’s excited to work with President Trump on that legislation and any other gun control legislation that may come up in Congress.
However, he’s not entirely sure Trump knows what he’s getting himself into.
“I’m looking forward to going over to the White House. I’m glad for the invitation. I introduced a piece of legislation with John Cornyn that would mildly strengthen our background check system,” Murphy said.
“I’m willing to work across the aisle and I was encouraged that President Trump said he’s in favor of comprehensive background checks. I’m not sure he knows what that means. That means universal background checks but he has not backtracked on that tweet since he made it.”
