CNN "The Situation Room" Trancript: Newtown Killing

Interview

BLITZER: Connecticut's congressional delegation has sponsored a vigil, a vigil for the victims here in Newtown, Connecticut.

Also, Democratic Representative Chris Murphy went to the floor of the House of Representatives to give an emotional speech, thanking his colleagues for their support and praising the people of Newtown.

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REP. CHRIS MURPHY (D), CONNECTICUT: The closeness of Newtown makes it hurt more, but the closeness of Newtown will also make us heal as well.

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BOLDUAN: Congressman Murphy is joining us from Washington right now. And he will be leaving the House next year to take up his new job as a U.S. senator from Connecticut.

And as you just told us, senator-elect, you will also be heading back here to Connecticut very soon to grieve with many folks here. Thanks for taking the time to be with us.

MURPHY: Well, thanks for being there.

BOLDUAN: Go ahead.

BLITZER: How do you think your community here, and I know your congressional district represents the people here in Newtown, how do you think they're holding up?

MURPHY: Well, listen, I think there's been a blankness to the faces of a lot of people in Newtown. You have seen it. People are just trying to understand this.

That being said, you know, there's so many resources that have come to town, whether it be grief counselors or people to help get the students back to school. I mean, people do feel a sense of love coming from Connecticut, coming from their community and from the whole nation, and I hope they felt a little bit of that last night when the House of Representatives stopped to honor the victims.

But this is going to be a very long process. I was at the first funeral of so many on Monday, and the little twin sister of Noah Pozner hadn't quite grasped yet that she had lost her brother. And you imagine that over the coming weeks and months, there are going to be people who finally start to realize this hurt.

Even when the TV cameras leave Newtown, we're going to need a lot of help and a lot of support to help people who are going to be grieving over a very long time.

BLITZER: I know you are being briefed on the investigation. Do you have a better sense of why this shooter, this killer, went to the Sandy Hook Elementary School?

MURPHY: I don't.

I'm learning at the same time that everyone else is. And I think a lot of people in Sandy Hook are asking those questions of why. And some people have asked the state police, well, why are you spending so much time on the motive if you already know who the killer is? You're not preparing for a trial.

But people want to get as much information here as they can. They're not going to get answers to all of these whys, but if we can get a little bit better view into this motive, I think it will allow people to rest a little bit easier having all that information at their fingertips, if it exists.

BOLDUAN: I want to read you a letter that one of your constituents sent to you, as well as to Senator Blumenthal. He's also the neighbor of the shooting victim Anne Marie Murphy.

In part, he wrote this to you in the letter. He said: "The people of your state have been assaulted and murdered. We demand that you take leadership in pursuing new gun control legislation. Be the leader that this country is sorely lacking. Have the courage to stand up for those kids that were murdered."

What do you say to him? What has this tragedy -- how has this tragedy changed your views?

MURPHY: Well, I say to him this, that my priorities as Connecticut's next U.S. senator changed on Friday.

I am now going to spend my time as Connecticut's newest U.S. senator leading the fight to combat gun violence. I'm going to be standing with Dianne Feinstein and with Joe Manchin and with Mark Warner to pass an assault weapons ban. I'm going to be leading a conversation about how we combat the rising culture of violence in this country.

You know, my tenure as a United States senator from Connecticut changed on Friday and I'm going to answer that call. Right now, I'm spending most of my time with my constituents in Newtown grieving. But I am going to be a leader to make sure that the memories of those 26 people do not go on in vain, that they have a senator and that they have people in Washington who are going to make sure that we do everything within our power to make sure that this doesn't befall any other community anywhere else in this country.

BLITZER: You know, there have been a few Republican governors, Bob McDonnell of Virginia, for example, Congressman, who floated the idea that school officials, perhaps, should be armed, and not just police officers who may be at schools, but school officials. Is that a good idea?

MURPHY: It's a ridiculous notion.

The fact is that Newtown did everything right. They had prepared for emergency drills. They executed them with perfection. They had a security system that frankly wasn't going to hold up against someone with that kind of weaponry.

Our focus should be on keeping these kind of dangerous assault weapons out of his hands, making sure that nobody can walk in with 30 rounds in a clip and trying to prevent the tragedy in the first place. The answer is not to arm America and arm America's schools.

The answer is to try to get the guns out of the hands of people who would do this kind of violence. We have got to look in a totally different direction than where some of these people are trying to point out.

BLITZER: Congressman Murphy, thanks so much for joining us. Good luck. This is going to be a tough assignment for you. It's going to be a tough assignment for everyone here. I think I speak for all of us. We have been thoroughly impressed by the people in Newtown. They could not be warmer and more welcoming and they have been excellent at dealing with this -- the enormity of this crisis.

Congressman, soon to be senator, thanks very much.

MURPHY: Thank you very much. BOLDUAN: Still ahead, as Newtown buries some of its children, a glimpse at the hard road ahead from parents who lost sons and daughters in other mass killings.

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