Sen. Chris Murphy, who staged a 15-hour filibuster to force discussion on gun control legislation in the wake of the Orlando shootings, on Friday said he had a "newsflash" for Donald Trump: The National Rifle Association is "not going to support any measures to stem gun violence in this country."
"They just aren't," the Connecticut Democrat told
MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program about the presumptive Republican nominee's
plan to meet with NRA officials to discuss not allowing people on the nation's terrorist watch list or the no-fly list to purchase guns.
"Is he is going to negotiate the national security of the United States with the NRA?" asked Murphy. "That's not constructive . . . so long as that's Donald Trump's positioning, I'm not sure he's sending any positive signals."
Trump accepted the NRA's endorsement in May, and Murphy on Friday said that Trump has announced that he "'won't support anything that the NRA won't.'"
The NRA said in a statement earlier this week that it also does not believe terrorists should be able to purchase or possess firearms, and anyone on a watchlist should be investigated and the gun sales delayed, but also calls for due process protections to be put in place.
Murphy said that if Republicans end up giving the NRA "veto power" over the issue of allowing people on the no-fly list or a terror watch list to buy guns, "we're never going to get it passed."
"In the wake of Orlando and San Bernardino, I think this issue is just elevating up on voters' priority lists," Murphy said. "They know there's something wrong when if you are on the terrorist watch list you can't fly a plane, but you can go buy a dangerous assault weapon. So I think that Republicans get that."
But the negotiations for reform would not have happened without a forced vote, said Murphy, who has been fighting for tougher gun control laws for several years following the 2012 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
"So I'm proud of what we did. It wasn't just me. I think it was 37 other senators who kind of organically came down to the Senate to demand that this happened. We'll see. I have been disappointed before. We have three days to try to work this out."