Current Events
Oak Creek Hero Lt Brian Murphy to be Special Guest at Obama's State of Union Address
CRAIG GILBERT
Oak Creek Police Lt. Brian Murphy, who was shot repeatedly while responding to the massacre at the local gurdwara last August, will be a guest in the First Lady's box when President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address to Congress tonight -- Tuesday, February 12, 2013.
"It's kind of remarkable," Murphy said of the invitation. "I'm extremely excited."
Murphy will join other guests whose presence is meant not only to honour them but to also underline the impact of policies the President is proposing, among them new measures aimed at reducing gun violence.
Murphy was struck by 15 bullets as he responded to the scene, and has been hailed as a hero for his courage under fire. Murphy is still recovering from his wounds and is on medical leave from the department.
Murphy, 51, said in an interview he is glad the issue of gun violence is being debated.
"I think people expect at this point something to be done. It's important we're looking harder at the issue," he said.
But Murphy deferred on taking sides publicly on specific policies, including new gun restrictions.
"It's not due to being ambivalent. I just think, obviously the wheels have been set in motion, the issue is going to be debated. I would rather the proper people come together for good legislation one way or the other," he said.
"Whether it's gun control legislation (or not), I figure the President and others are looking hard at this issue, and that is a step in the right direction. Once any legislation comes out, if someone asks me my personal opinion, I'd be more prepared to give it then. Just by the President bringing in people from Sandy Hook, Oak Creek and Colorado to see how we can work together, it's the right thing to do," said Murphy, referring to other mass shootings.
Murphy and his wife will attend a reception at the White House tonight before the speech. Murphy said he has not met either the President or the First Lady, but his wife met Michelle Obama when she visited the victims and relatives of the Sikh-Americans killed in the Oak Creek shooting a few weeks after it occurred.
Murphy said he considers himself a "casualty" rather than a "victim" of gun violence because "my choice was to take a job that would put me in harm's way."
Murphy was struck by 15 bullets, three of which hit his protective vest. He said he still has medical issues to take care of, but his recovery is "overall better than expected . . . especially with the amount of damage that was done."
He will sit in the visitors' gallery of the House of Representatives, overlooking members of Congress, as Obama delivers a speech that will spell out his priorities for the coming year, including tougher gun laws.
The First Lady's guest list also includes the parents of Hadiya Pendleton, a Chicago high school student shot and killed in that city last month, days after traveling to Washington for the President's inauguration.
[Courtesy: Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel. Edited for sikhchic.com]
February 12, 2013
Conversation about this article
1: Sangat Singh (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), February 12, 2013, 8:26 AM.
Obama is today's Lincoln with a warm heart. Here is the letter the latter wrote to a mother who had lost five sons: "I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant-General of Massachusetts, that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours, to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of Freedom. Yours, very sincerely and respectfully, Abraham Lincoln."
2: Baldev Singh (Bradford, United Kingdom), February 12, 2013, 3:23 PM.
Sikh-Americans should do their bit to bestow on Lt Brian Murphy the honour he so richly deserves.
3: Pritam Singh Grewal (Canada), February 13, 2013, 3:43 AM.
Brian Murphy, you are deservedly honored for exemplary duty performed! A Sikh-like sacrifice and conduct, indeed!
4: Baldev Singh (Bradford, United Kingdom), February 13, 2013, 1:33 PM.
I watched the State of The Union speech live in the UK. It was good to see Lt Murphy featured so prominently at the end. Deservedly!