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Connecticut Lawmakers Call For Action After Deadly Oregon Shooting Spree

FAIRFIELD COUNTY, Conn. — Lawmakers from Connecticut expressed sympathy Thursday for the victims of a deadly shooting spree at an Oregon campus. But they also expressed outrage and called for action on gun control.

U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty

U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty

Photo Credit: ElizabethEsty.com

A lone gunman burst into classrooms at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore., killing nine people and injuring seven more. Police shot the gunman dead in a firefight. 

Like President Barack Obama, who said "we've become numb" to mass shootings, legislators called for gun control. 

“My heart breaks for the community of Roseburg, and the families and friends who lost loved ones today," U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty (D-5th District). "This cannot go on — we cannot continue to lose our brothers, sisters, friends, and family members to gun violence. 

"It has been almost three years since the tragedy at Sandy Hook, and our students should not fear for their lives in classrooms across the country. In Congress we must come together, rise above partisan politics, and enact commonsense laws that will keep our communities safe.”

On Thursday, Esty, vice chair of the Congressional Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, joined 143 bipartisan members of Congress who sent a letter to Speaker John Boehner, urging him to bring commonsense gun violence prevention legislation to the House floor.

U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said, "My heart is with everyone in Oregon who has been victimized by this horrific tragedy. 

"But I'm tired of sending sympathies to every corner of this country, every week. It's time for Congress to end the silence which has become quiet endorsement of these murders. It's time to stop believing it's sufficient to send sympathies and then do nothing. It's time for Congress to act."

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) agreed. 

“My heart breaks and my prayers go out to the families who have suffered this horrific loss. I share in the sadness, outrage and anger at this unspeakable tragedy, as well as at Congress for its inertia and inaction," Blumenthal said. 

"Gun violence is a public health epidemic and menace that must be met at peril to our moral as well as physical survival. We cannot allow another tragedy to pass with only words of grief and regret. The American public has begged us to act again and again on common sense, sensible gun safety measures, and we must heed that call."

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