Friends -

I wanted to share a personal update on the conversations that I have been having with the White House about the path forward on changing America's gun laws to make this country a safer place.

First of all, it's heartbreaking to me that this country only takes seriously changing the nation's gun laws after high-profile mass shootings. What happened in El Paso and Dayton was absolutely horrifying. But that very same weekend, 50 people were shot in Chicago, and every day 100 people die from gunshot wounds in this nation.

This is a daily epidemic in this country. And it's ridiculous to me that Congress only thinks that it has to act after one of these mass shootings occurs.

But here we are again, in the wake of another epic-scale mass slaughter. Republicans have cracked the door open to discussing the prospects for changing America's gun laws, and I intend to do all I can to make that happen.

President Trump said very quickly after the mass shootings that he was open to a conversation about background checks. During those first few days, I was on the phone with my colleagues--Republicans and Democrats in the Senate--to explore whether we could revive the background checks legislation that failed in the Senate in 2013, or take up the bill that has already passed the House of Representatives.

Then the president called me and told me personally that he was indeed serious about moving forward together on what he called meaningful background checks legislation. The president also told me that he knew that Republicans in the Senate wouldn't support meaningful reform unless he got behind it, and he was committed to finding a way forward.

Since then, some of the president's public comments have seemed to suggest he may be once again backing away from his commitment to work on background checks legislation. That may end up being the case.

But as long as there is a chance I am going to keep trying. As recently as Thursday of last week, I was on the phone with the White House and they told me that the president is still interested in trying to work on a comprehensive anti-gun violence proposal that would include strengthening background checks. And I committed that I would work with them over the course of the next few weeks to try to find common ground on expanding background checks in this country.

I am skeptical that these efforts are going to bear fruit. It's very hard to negotiate with this White House when the president's public positions seem to change by the day.

And I'm sure there will be some people who will say I'm naive to think that we're going to end up getting a proposal through that will significantly expand background checks and be able to get 60 votes in the Senate.

But I'm going to try. I think it's my obligation as the primary sponsor of the background checks bill in the Senate to do so, but also because the stakes are so high. Because if we were able to dramatically expand the number of background checks that are processed in this country, for instance at gun shows or through online sales, we would undoubtedly save lives.

If this all seems like a ruse--an attempt by the president to make it look like he's doing something without actually moving the ball down the field--I think we'll know that in fairly short order. But I want to make sure to give this an honest effort.

And I've made it clear to the White House that if they are going to give the NRA veto power over this package, then it's not worth having even one meeting. I don't know yet whether they are listening to me. But I will say, in my conversation with the president, he understood that a bill that was "meaningful" would not likely be supported by the gun lobby, and I've reiterated that to the White House this week.

Who knows what's to happen. But I have to give it a try.

Every best wish,

Chris Murphy

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