Following the 2018 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, Murphy made an impassioned call for action in the Senate stating that "this happens nowhere else other than the United States of America, this epidemic of mass slaughter, this scourge of school shooting after school shooting. It only happens here not because of coincidence, not because of bad luck, but as a consequence of our inaction. We are responsible for a level of mass atrocity that happens in this country with zero parallel anywhere else. As a parent it scares me to death that this body doesn't take seriously the safety of my children, and it seems like a lot of parents in South Florida will be asking the same question today. We pray for families, for the victims. We hope for the best."