As Senate Democrats #HoldTheFloor for the Tenth Hour, Blumenthal Shares the Personal Stories of Victims of Gun Violence—Both in Orlando and Connecticut

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Earlier tonight, as Senate Democrats entered the tenth hour of holding the Senate Floor to highlight the gun violence crisis and to call for responsible solutions, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) read from a letter he received from a resident of Danbury, Connecticut, who wrote:

“I am no longer “saddened” by recent mass shootings; I am instead angry and frustrated by the inaction of this nation’s leaders to implement obvious and basic safeguards to gun ownership, such as universal background checks, CDC research into gun violence, limiting magazine capacity, restriction of gun ownership to domestic abusers and people on terrorist watch lists, to name a few…I am furious and feel powerless. I beg you to stand up for me, my family, everyone who has ever lost family or friends to senseless gun violence, and for our society as a whole, which we are currently failing to protect. Enough is enough.”

Video of Blumenthal reading the full text of this letter on the Senate Floor is available here.

Blumenthal, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), and at least thirty of their Senate colleagues have been speaking on the Senate Floor since before noon this morning to call for immediate Senate action on commonsense gun violence prevention measures, including effective background checks and legislation to keep guns out of the hands of known or suspected terrorists.

In his remarks, Blumenthal also honored one of the victims of the shooting in Orlando, Kimberly Morris, who was a native of Torrington, Connecticut.

“Connecticut also had a connection to Orlando, a 37-year-old young woman named Kimberly Morris, educated in Torrington, Connecticut, at the Torrington High School and then at Post University in Waterbury, Connecticut,” Blumenthal said. “Kimberly Morris was known as a “scrappy player” according to Charlie McSpirit, the Torrington High School former Athletic Director. He can still remember Morris because she “played the game to her fullest. She was a tenacious” small forward on the basketball team as well at Post University in Waterbury. Her teammate Narvell Benning, who played for the men’s team said, “she didn’t let anyone – she didn’t let nobody – push her around.” She was 37-years-old. She is among the older of the victims who were killed in Orlando, but what is so striking biographies of these young men and women is how young they are, how much of their lives they had ahead.”

Video of Blumenthal honoring Kimberly Morris on the Senate Floor is available here.

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