In conversation with Representative Nick Duran

Is America destined to always be a violent nation? This sweeping history by U.S. senator Chris Murphy explores the origins of our violent impulses, the roots of our obsession with firearms, and the mythologies that prevent us from confronting our national crisis.

In many ways, the United States sets the pace for other nations to follow. Yet on the most important human concern—the need to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe from physical harm—America isn’t a leader. We are disturbingly laggard. Our churches and schools, our movie theaters and dance clubs, our workplaces and neighborhoods, no longer feel safe. To confront this problem, we must first understand it. In this carefully researched and deeply emotional book, Senator Chris Murphy dissects our country’s violence-filled history and the role that our unique obsession with firearms plays in this national epidemic. 

Murphy tells the story of his profound personal transformation in the wake of the mass murder at Newtown, and his subsequent immersion in the complicated web of influences that drive American violence. Murphy comes to the conclusion that while America’s relationship to violence is indeed unique, America is not inescapably violent. Even as he details the reasons we’ve tolerated so much bloodshed for so long, he explains that we have the power to change. Murphy takes on the familiar arguments, obliterates the stale talking points, and charts the way to a fresh, less polarized conversation about violence and the weapons that enable it—a conversation we urgently need in order to transform the national dialogue and save lives.

Elected in 2012 as the youngest member of the U.S. Senate, Chris Murphy has earned a reputation as a serious legislator who is willing to stand up for his principles and reach across the aisle. Since the Newtown school shooting in December 2012, he has also become the best-known leader in Congress in confronting the plague of gun violence in America. Now in his second term representing Connecticut, he and his wife, Cathy, an attorney, have two young sons, Owen and Rider.

Representative Duran is a native South Floridian, who grew up between Miami in Coral Springs. He attended Taravella Highschool and then came to the University of Florida where he studied public relations in the College of Journalism and Communications. He then went to New York Law School and came back to Miami to work for a law firm in corporate litigation. In 2010 he left the law practice to work in the nonprofit sector focusing on children’s health care and early childhood education.

Nick was elected in November 2016 to the Florida House of Representatives for District 112. In the Legislature Rep. Duran serves on several healthcare-focused committees that include the Health & Human Services Committee, Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee as well as the Appropriations Committee. As a member of the House in the wake of the Parkland murders, Nick was a forceful, influential voice (and vote) in favor of the most significant gun violence prevention legislation passed in Florida in a generation.

Over the years he has served in a variety of leadership roles in health care policy and community engagement. Currently, he is the executive director of the Florida Association of Free and Charitable Clinics. Nick serves on the board of directors for the Miami-Dade County Public Health Trust (Jackson Health System), the board of directors for Epilepsy Florida, is the immediate past chair for the University of South Florida Covering Kids and Families State Coalition, and is a member of the Florida Bar and Leadership Florida. He is a native South Floridian and lives in Coconut Grove with his wife Danielle and two kids.

A Virtual Evening with Senator Chris Murphy and Representative Nick Duran