Stephen Colbert’s week of inviting Democratic politicians to CBS and The Late Show continued on Wednesday with Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy. Colbert began by praising Murphy’s gun control advocacy as he tried to use the shooting at the Dallas ICE facility to push the idea. Murphy, meanwhile, tried to argue that it was actually President Trump doing the politicizing because political violence should not be seen as a left-wing or right-wing thing.
After introducing Murphy, Colbert let the praise flow, “Before we get into anything else, right off the top, I just want to point out and let everybody know that you have been a tireless advocate for gun control for years now. And as you know, and I think most of the people out here know, today there was another tragic shooting. This time at an ICE facility down in Dallas.”
He then wondered, “We don't know a lot about it so far. What goes through your mind when you hear about another shooting like this?”
After talking about the impact on families and communities, Murphy claimed it is also about “this anger, this anxiety that we all have about why we can't make a simple decision as a nation to put an end to this violence, whether it be mass violence, whether it be shootings on our streets, whether it be political violence.”
Murphy added, “We don't yet know the motives here. But we are obviously amidst a moment with an increase in political violence, and it just shouldn't matter. It shouldn't matter whether the radicalization comes from the right or the left or some non-ideological place in the deep dark recesses of the internet, this president, our entire political process, could make a decision to draw a line in the sand.”
He also claimed we shouldn’t politicize the shooting before going after Trump, “And it just sickens me that we have a president who, instead of trying to stand up and say wherever the violence comes from, it's unacceptable, is politicizing this moment. So, it's about the victims and it's about a mourning of a loss of a potential moment to bring this country together.”
For his part, Colbert tried to bring it back to gun control, “I mean, there really hasn't been much movement to rein in the access to the long guns and many of the weapons that are used in these killings, but, I mean, hopefully, maybe there could be a political sea change in the United States.”
While Colbert and Murphy claim we don’t know the motive, we knew at the time of recording that the shooter had “anti-ICE” written on the bullets. It is also true that the shooter used a bolt-action rifle, the very type of hunting rifle that even liberals insist they do not want to ban. Furthermore, reporting seems to suggest the guy was passionate in his anti-deportation beliefs. Finally, it was only last week that Colbert tried to argue that right-wing violence was more prevalent than left-wing violence, but now that we have a second major act of left-wing violence in the span of two weeks, Colbert’s guests are saying partisan labeling doesn’t matter, and Colbert himself is back to gun control.
Here is a transcript for the September 24-taped show:
CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
9/25/2025
12:03 AM ET
STEPHEN COLBERT: Before we get into anything else, right off the top, I just want to point out and let everybody know that you have been a tireless advocate for gun control for years now. And as you know, and I think most of the people out here know, today there was another tragic shooting.
CHRIS MURPHY: Yean.
COLBERT: This time at an ICE facility down in Dallas. We don't know a lot about it so far. What goes through your mind when you hear about another shooting like this?
MURPHY: Well, Stephen, you're right. We don't know all the details here. But what really goes through my mind, first, is the families in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, right? I mean, I live through that horror, those parents that were my age at the time are now friends of mine and I know how your life is fundamentally changed, the trauma that ripples through a family and a community when you lose a loved one.
We know there is one person dead here, two critically injured and for me, it's first and foremost about the victims. It's then quickly about this anger, this anxiety that we all have about why we can't make a simple decision as a nation to put an end to this violence, whether it be mass violence, whether it be shootings on our streets, whether it be political violence.
And we don't yet know the motives here. But we are obviously amidst a moment with an increase in political violence, and it just shouldn't matter. It shouldn't matter whether the radicalization comes from the right or the left or some non-ideological place in the deep dark recesses of the internet, this president, our entire political process, could make a decision to draw a line in the sand.
And it just sickens me that we have a president who, instead of trying to stand up and say wherever the violence comes from, it's unacceptable, is politicizing this moment. So, it's about the victims and it's about a mourning of a loss of a potential moment to bring this country together.
COLBERT: I mean, there really hasn't been much movement to rein in the access to the long guns and many of the weapons that are used in these killings, but, I mean, hopefully, maybe there could be a political sea change in the United States.