Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) has suggested that federal funds should be withheld from law enforcement agencies that refuse to enforce state and national gun control laws. Murphy, one of the nation’s leading gun control advocates, referenced local municipalities that have refused to comply with such laws and have instead styled themselves “Second Amendment sanctuaries” in response to Democrat-led “sanctuary cities.”
“They have decided that they are going to essentially refuse to implement laws that are on the books. That is a growing problem in this country,” Murphy said during an appearance on CNN. “And I think we’re going to have to have a conversation about that in the United States Senate. Do we want to continue to supply funding to law enforcement in counties that refuse to implement state and federal gun laws?”
The Connecticut senator pointed to the recent mass shooting at a Colorado LGBT nightclub that left five people dead. Prosecutors in El Paso County refused to enforce a “red flag” complaint against the self-identified nonbinary shooter following earlier threats of violence coming from him.
Murphy pointed out that Chesapeake, Virginia, where a former Walmart manager gunned down multiple coworkers on November 22, is also a Second Amendment sanctuary. He did not call for a similar crackdown on so-called “sanctuary cities” that openly defy federal immigration law, however.
Democrat Senator Chris Murphy says "we have to have a conversation about whether we can continue to fund law enforcement" in counties and states which have declared themselves "Second Amendment sanctuaries." pic.twitter.com/TxFbuAulDa
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) November 27, 2022
Murphy’s comments came just days after President Biden again called on Congress to pass an “assault weapons” ban. “The idea we still allow semiautomatic weapons to be purchased is sick. It’s just sick. It has no, no social redeeming value. Zero. None. Not a single, solitary rationale for it except profit for the gun manufacturers,” Biden told reporters in Nantucket earlier this week.
The House passed an “assault weapons ban” earlier this year, though Chris Murphy does not see it passing in the Senate as of this time.
