Senator Murphy gun control filibuster

On June 15, 2016, in the wake of a mass shooting in Orlando, Florida, Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, launched a filibuster in the United States Senate promising to hold the floor "for as long as I can" or until Congress acts on gun control legislation.
Murphy eventually secured a commitment from Senate leadership to hold a vote on two measures that he supports—one to expand background checks and another to block suspected terrorists from purchasing weapons—and ended his filibuster after 14 hours and 50 minutes, making it the eighth-longest filibuster in the U.S. Senate since 1900.
Background and goals
Murphy represents Connecticut in the Senate, where 20 schoolchildren and six educators were killed in December 2012 in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Murphy stated on the Senate floor during the filibuster, "For those of us that represent Connecticut, the failure of this body to do anything, anything at all in the face of that continued slaughter isn't just painful to us, it's unconscionable."
Murphy is seeking a vote on legislation that would expand background checks required for weapons purchases, and on a measure sponsored by Senator Dianne Feinstein of California that would allow the U.S. to ban sales of guns and explosives to people listed on government watch lists of suspected terrorists. The Feinstein Amendment came to the Senate floor one day after 14 people were killed by Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik in the San Bernardino shooting in December 2015, but failed on a party-line vote, with Democrats in favor and Republicans opposed. As a Murphy spokesman put it, the Senator would "hold the floor to push for a vote on amendments to close the terror gap and expand background checks." Some, including Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Cory Booker of New Jersey, stood with Murphy for hours. Other Democratic senators appearing on the floor included Bill Nelson of Florida, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, as well as Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey of Massachusetts. Under Senate rules, Murphy was permitted to yield for the purposes of taking questions while not yielding the floor; as in recent past filibusters, this allowed supporters of the filibuster to make speeches of their own which were nominally questions, temporarily relieving Murphy from having to constantly speak.
Two Republicans appeared on the floor to engage with Murphy with questions: first Ben Sasse of Nebraska and then Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.<ref name="Reynolds"/>
In his remarks on the floor, Murphy stated, "I really do worry that there is a quiet, unintentional message of endorsement that's sent when we do nothing or when all we do is talk. I think when there is not a collective condemnation with policy change from what is supposedly the world's greatest deliberative body that there are very quiet cues that are picked up by people who are contemplating the unthinkable in their mind."<ref name="Lapowsky"/>
Murphy formally yielded the floor, ending the filibuster, at 2:11 a.m. EDT the following day, after 14 hours and 50 minutes.<ref name="MasonAdamsEnd"/> Murphy ended the filibuster after securing a commitment from Senate leadership to hold votes on two Democratic proposals: the Feinstein proposal to ban persons on terrorist watch lists from obtaining guns, and the Murphy-Booker-Schumer proposal to expand background checks to gun shows and Internet sales. Republicans plan to raise two of their own proposals.<ref name="MasonAdamsEnd"/>

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