US Senator after school massacre: “Why are we here?”

Washington (AP) – U.S. Senator Chris Murphy has reacted with horror to the massacre at an elementary school in the state of Texas and sent moving words to his Senate colleagues.

“What are we doing?”, asked the Democrat in the US Congress. “Why are you spending so much time running for the United States Senate? Why do you bother to get this job (…), if your answer is that we are doing nothing while this butchery is increasing and our children are running for their lives, ” he asked, visibly struggling for composure. “Why are we here?”

In the rampage at an elementary school in the small town of Uvalde near San Antonio in Texas, 14 children and a teacher were killed on Tuesday, as the Texas governor, Greg Abbott, announced after the attack. The shooter is also dead.

Murphy: “This kind of thing only happens in this country”

Murphy is from the state where 20 young children were killed in a massacre at an elementary school in the village of Sandy Hook in 2012. Such massacres are not inevitable. “This only happens in this country. And nowhere else,” Murphy said. “Nowhere else do young children go to school with the thought that they could be shot that day. Murphy added: “It’s our decision whether this continues.”

“Work with us to find a way to pass legislation that makes this less likely,” the Democrat continued. “I know that my Republican colleagues will not agree with everything I advocate, but we can find a common denominator.” Congress, the US Parliament, is responsible for tightening gun laws. Many Republicans oppose such a move. The gun lobby is very powerful in the United States.