During a recent appearance on MSNBC, Connecticut’s junior senator, Chris Murphy, made a startling comment. Members of Congress who continue to block all gun reform legislation, said the senator, are effectively endorsing mass murder, such as seen most recently in Roseburg, Ore.

“I think that Congress is effectively, quietly, endorsing these mass murders because people who are having their minds unhinged note that there is no one here in the elected legislative branch of Congress who is getting together to do something about it in a practical way,” said the Democrat. “So, I think without Congress acting here, we are going to see more and more of these mass slaughters, and that’s an abomination."

While that is an extreme statement, it makes a valid point.

If the toll of gun violence were any other health issue, there would be a national consensus that it had to be addressed. On this issue, at least at the federal level, nothing changes. The gun lobby, led by the powerful NRA, will not consider even reasonable measures, characterizing any further federal regulation as an attack on the Second Amendment.

As representatives of a state that did take action on gun control in response to the slaughter of children and educators at Sandy Hook in December 2012, Connecticut’s senators and members of Congress must continue to carry the torch to Washington. The refusal to pass sensible gun-control legislation is out of touch with the opinions of the vast majority of Americans.

So while Sen. Murphy may have come on too strong in his statement, it was delivered out of an understandable sense of frustration.

When in 2001 terrorists commandeered commercial airlines and used them as missiles to kill nearly 3,000 Americans, the nation reacted. Our government improved airport security, upgraded communication among law enforcement agencies, and passed laws to improve surveillance and intelligence gathering. Americans had to accept some limits on their freedoms, but they did so in the spirit of “Never again.”

Arguably, the scourge of gun violence is far more serious. A recent Washington Post article noted that between 1970 and 2014, 3,521 people died in terror attacks in the United States, most of those on 9/11. About 10,000 people have been killed in gun violence in 2015 alone. That figure does not include the 21,000 people who use firearms to commit suicide annually.

After nine people were shot to death at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, President Obama lamented, “Somehow this has become routine. The reporting is routine. My response here at this podium ends up being routine. We’ve become numb to this.”

Such mass killings are more common than most Americans realize. If defined as incidents in which four or more people are shot, not one Sunday-to-Saturday calendar week has passed since the president’s re-election without a mass shooting.

Since the Newtown shooting, there have now been 994 such events in the U.S. The death toll stands at approximately 1,236 people since the beginning of 2013, reports shootingtracker.com.

When our society realized too many were dying in accidents on our roads, it passed laws to require the wearing of seat belts, installation of air bags, and re-enforcement of vehicle frames to improve crash resistance. In response to high obesity, cancer and heart disease rates came enactment of laws requiring nutritional labels and educational campaigns to encourage more exercise and better eating.

The unwillingness to take the smallest steps to address the gun-violence health crisis is a national embarrassment. According to the Brady Campaign, the U.S. firearm homicide rate is 20 times higher than the combined rates of 22 countries that are our peers in wealth and population.

While the country should follow Connecticut’s lead in banning the sale to civilians of automatic weapons designed for combat, that may be a bridge too far in the current political climate.

However, requiring universal background checks to prevent those with criminal records, restraining orders or a history of troubled behavior to buy guns, is an achievable goal. Polls show the vast majority of Americans, including gun owners, support universal background checks

The current background check system applies to only about 60 percent of gun sales, leaving 40 percent (online sales, purchases at gun shows, checks not completed in a timely fashion) without a background check.

Republicans, and some Democrats, must set aside political fear of the NRA and do the right thing — enact a universal background check requirement.