Chris Murphy: Universal Background Checks Should Be the ‘Next Step’ in Gun Control

RUSH EXCERPT: 
TAPPER: "You said earlier that you would be willing to allow a clean bill in Congress that bans or regulates bump stocks without having a further — without requiring more broader gun control to be attached to the bill. Is universal background checks the next step, though? You said you would be willing to separate it. Is universal background checks closing the so-called gun show loophole requiring background checks for private sales? Is that the next step for people in your philosophical camp and Senate?"
MURPHY: "It should be the next step. In large part because it is the most popularly accepted change. And it has the biggest effect, what we know is that in states that have universal background checks, gun crimes are reduced by as much as 40%. And, you know, there is this fiction that the gun lobby tries to perpetuate that there are no laws that could stop evil doers from perpetuating the kinds of crimes we saw in Las Vegas and that we see in Chicago. That’s simply not true. What we know is that states that have tougher gun laws, that keep criminals from getting guns that keep those dangerous weapons like ar-15s out of the hands of civilians have dramatically lower rates of gun violence. We have plenty of data to tell us that in fact if you have tougher gun laws, you will have law gun crime and what we know is that the most important intervention is background checks, it is the intervention supported by the largest number of Americans and so, yes, that would be the clear next step, that should be our north star as we try to figure out how to proceed."