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#Filibuster Reaction Reflects Passionate Division Over Guns

Murphy inspires and incites, depending on which way you look at the debate

Demonstrators supporting Sen. Christopher S. Murphy's filibuster on gun laws march onto the grounds of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday night. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
Demonstrators supporting Sen. Christopher S. Murphy's filibuster on gun laws march onto the grounds of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday night. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
By Stephanie Akin
Posted June 16, 2016 at 9:37am

Well-known writers, media personalities and relatives of gun violence victims posted passionate dispatches on both sides of the gun debate during Sen. Christopher S. Murphy’s filibuster Wednesday and early Thursday.

“Heard about
@ChrisMurphyCT
 and his
#filibuster
 and I feel like, for the first time in days, I am breathing,” Jared Frieder, a Los Angeles-based comedy writer, posted at 2:06 p.m., three hours after Murphy took the floor.

Sandy Phillips, whose daughter was murdered in the 2012 Aurora Colorado mass shooting, chimed in with a note of support. “I am a Republican Texas gun owner,” she wrote. “We Need Change. Supporting Dems on gun reform all the way.”

Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, also prompted numerous missives from the pro-gun side, many of whom added the #2A, a hashtag used by supporters of gun rights.

“Brave Democrats filibuster on the Senate floor as men with assault rifles protect them at the Capitol,” wrote Katie Pavlich, a writer and Fox News contributor.

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Sam Janney, a conservative radio host who Tweets as @Politibunny, was one of dozens of posters to describe the filibuster as an attempt to take away a constitutional right.

“Republicans #filibuster to stop drones from killing innocents or to halt the overreach of govt.” She tweeted. “Democrats #filibuster to take our rights.”

A photo of an airplane flying into the World Trade Center on 9/11 accompanied many pro-gun tweets, to point out that guns were not used in that terrorist attack.

Contact Akin at 


stephanieakin@rollcall.com


 and follow her on Twitter at 


@stephanieakin

. 


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