Dem Senator Destroys Myth That More 'Good Guys With Guns' Would've Prevented Sydney Siege

By: Justin Baragona
Monday, December, 15th, 2014, 11:31 am   
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During an interview on CNN's New Day Monday Morning, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) fired back at host Chris Cuomo's assertion that the hostage situation in Australia may have been averted if that country didn't have such strict gun control laws. Essentially, Cuomo was taking the position we've heard from the NRA and many of the 'open carry' fanatics who have insisted that gun control laws only help criminals and put innocent people at risk due to them being unarmed. The CNN host appeared to be advocating for more people to have access to assault rifles as that would place more "good guys with guns" on the streets.
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As this month also represents the second anniversary of the tragic Newtown school shooting, Murphy wasn't buying what Cuomo was selling. The Connecticut senator stood by his principles and not only defended stricter gun control but pointed out that communities that have more guns have more shooting deaths. Cuomo first stated that the Australian hostage taker likely used a shotgun, which is illegal in Australia, and therefore this seemingly proves that Australia's gun control laws don't work. He then asked Murphy if he thinks he can really achieve anything with gun control in this country considering our citizens feel they need to have assault weapons to stop disturbed individuals such as this man.
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Murphy retorted with the following comments.
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    "Ultimately, what we know is when gunmen walk into crowded places, they kill more people when they have powerful assault weapons. And this mythology that you end up killing bad guys by arming good guys just doesn't work. Study after study shows you that in communities that have more guns, more people get killed. And the reality is that if you have a gun at home, you are more likely to be killed by it than kill an attacker or someone that's going after your neighbor.
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    So, we've got to have a conversation in this country about the kinds of weapons that we make legal because assault weapons are more likely than not going to be used in these mass slaughters rather than used by some citizen to stop someone in one of those situations."

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