Though the outcomes of the legislative votes are far from sure, the filibuster begun by Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy has succeeded in bringing Republicans to the table for a pair of votes.

Senate Democrats ended a nearly 15-hour filibuster early Thursday after Republican Party leaders reportedly agreed to allow votes on two proposed gun control measures.
The votes will supposedly include a proposal to provide universal background checks, and another to prevent those on the no-fly list from obtaining weapons. The second bill apparently addresses the no-fly list, not the much larger terrorist watch list. These are both positions that have wide, bipartisan support in the public, but which Republicans have either blocked from a vote or voted down in the past.

Some 40 Senators took part in the talking filibuster before it was completed. Unlike the highly publicized Republican filibuster in which Ted Cruz recited Green Eggs and Ham, the content of this 14+ hour filibuster stayed on topic, with statistics, studies, and stories of other shootings filling the time.

As the filibuster approached conclusion, Senator Murphy brought it home with a heartbreaking story from the most notorious shooting in his own state.

... he told the story of Sandy Hook student Dylan Hockley and his teacher Anne Marie Murphy, who died trying to protect him.

"It doesn't take courage to stand here on the floor of the U.S. Senate… It takes courage to look into the eye of a shooter and instead of running wrapping your arms around a 6-year-old boy and accepting death," Murphy said. "If Ann-Marie Murphy could do that then ask yourself — what can you do to make sure that Orlando or Sandy Hook never, ever happens again."
Now the Senate gets a chance to demonstrate simple common sense. And to do their jobs.