In an effort to push gun control legislation in Congress, U.S. Senate Democrats are filibustering the legislative body to "close the terror gap."

Filibuster in the Senate

In a statement put forth by Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., he and fellow Democrats are seeking to prevent people on the FBI's Terrorist Watch List from purchasing guns and increase background checks.

During a Senate speech, Murphy said there should not be any debate on the current Commerce, Science, Justice, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill unless progress is made on two pieces of legislation pertaining to greater gun background checks and prohibiting people on the FBI Terror Watch List from buying guns.

"By acting, by coming together and finding a way to act on these two noncontroversial measures, I think we also send an important signal to the American public and to would-be murderers that we're serious about stemming this epidemic," said Murphy on Wednesday. "And so I'm going to remain on this floor until we get some signal, some sign that we can come together on these two measures, that we can get a path forward on addressing this epidemic in a meaningful bipartisan way."

To view the live feed of the U.S. Senate filibuster, courtesy of C-SPAN, click here.

What Brought the Filibuster?

For Democrats, the filibuster comes just a few days after the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, which killed 49 people, largely affecting the LGBT and Latino communities.

The shooting, which has been labeled as both a terror attack and hate crime, started on early Sunday morning. President Barack Obama said the attack is yet another example of how easy it is to obtain a weapon and shoot place, whether it's a school, theatre, house of worship and now a nightclub.

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