Senate Democrat says he will 'settle' for less aggressive gun control reform 'because that will save lives'

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Sunday said he is willing to "settle" for less aggressive gun control reform "because that will save lives," days after four students were killed in a shooting at Michigan high school.

"I won't let the perfect be the enemy of the good, right. I want universal background checks, I want a ban on assault weapons, but I will settle for something much less because that will save lives," Murphy told co-host Jake Tapper on CNN's "State of the Union."

Murphy's latest push for gun reform comes after a an individual opened fire at Michigan's Oxford High School on Tuesday, leaving four students dead and a number of other students wounded.

Student Ethan Crumbley, 15, was arrested in connection to the incident, along with his parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, after they said they purchased the semiautomatic handgun that was used in the shooting. It was allegedly a Christmas gift.

Murphy, who has pushed for gun control legislation throughout his career, said on Sunday that he hopes that Congress can take up gun control measures in the coming weeks, noting that Republicans often have "epiphanies" on the issue in the wake of mass school shootings.

"I wish my Republican colleagues didn't, sort of, have epiphanies on this issue only after mass school shootings. But that tends to be what happens, and so my hope is that in the next couple of weeks we can get back to the table and see if we can, at the very least, as you said, maybe close the gun show loophole. That alone would save a lot of lives," he said.

Asked why the Democratic-majority Congress and Democratic White House have been unable to pass gun control regulation, Murphy placed the onus on the rules of the Senate, taking aim at the 60-vote threshold needed to pass laws.

"The fact of the matter is we have the votes in the House, in the Senate for a universal background checks bill. We have a president who will sign it. It's the rules of the Senate that prevent us from passing, you know, we probably have 52, 53, 54 votes in the Senate for this," Murphy said.

"I also understand that this is, I think, one of the great social change movements in this nation's history, that we can't let failure or obstacle stop us. We're going to have to continue to build a movement. If we don't change the rules of the Senate then we're ultimately going to need 60 votes, and so we need to continue to build up our political power around the country," he added.

The Connecticut Democrat said he has engaged in negotiations with Republican Sens. Pat Toomey (Pa.) and Lindsey Graham (S.C.) throughout the year "trying to find a compromise that can get 60 votes in the Senate."

"Maybe this shooting will bring people back to the table. But we haven't taken a vote this year in part because I've asked Sen. Schumer for the room to try to negotiate that compromise that you're talking about," he added, referring to a bill to close the gun show loophole.