Democratic senator forced to double-check if Kyrsten Sinema was 'serious' she wanted to be involved in gun bill

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) has long been working on attempts to establish gun safety legislation that could help stem the national epidemic of gun deaths. He was among those who were working on the bipartisan effort to help bring about a soft bill that made small steps forward on gun issues.

One of the officials that hasn't been part of gun legislation negotiations was Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), who has been persona non grata among Democrats because she refused to support the "Build Back Better" plan and eliminate the filibuster to help codify Roe v. Wade, which was ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court this week.

In a text message conversation, Murphy revealed that Sinema expressed interest in the bipartisan legislation negotiations, the New York Times.

Sinema told the press that she wanted to work with members of both parties to write a bill. So, Murphy had reached out to her asking about her statement. She told Murphy that she was interested.

"Are you serious?" Murphy text messaged in response, the report said.

Sinema first worked at a domestic violence shelter and sought tighter restrictions about abusers trying to buy guns, the Times reported. That said, Sinema also previously indicated she was pro-choice and supportive of the Voting Rights Act, but she has refused to shore up those freedoms.

While Sinema signed onto co-sponsor 32 bills in 2021-2022, about 11 of them were only supported by Republicans, ProPublica's bill tracking site recorded. Sinema has been criticized for spending a lot of her time fundraising from political action groups and big business, which has drawn accusations that she's a corporate Democrat.

Read the full report in the New York Times.