In the final push toward the Senate gun control vote on April 17, Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) admitted Democrats were flying Newtown families into DC to break a Republican filibuster–he also admitted that those families did not know they were going to be used for that purpose until the plane carrying them was already in the air.
The families thought they were coming to DC to oppose “high capacity” magazines. But according to The New York Times, once the families were in the air aboard Air Force One, Murphy let them know they would be used “to get a vote on a vote.”
Here’s how Murphy put it:
They thought they were coming down here to argue for a ban on high capacity magazines and universal background checks, and we told them they coming to argue to avert a filibuster and allow us to debate. And that was really heartbreaking and deflating for some of them. But they rose to the occasion, and it was wonderful to see them at the end of the trip feeling like they had made a difference.
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins
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