N.J. Senators Join Gun Violence Filibuster

New Jersey Sens. Cory Booker and Robert Menendez are two Democrats who spoke as part of a filibuster on the Senate floor Wednesday the party is using to get the U.S. Senate to address the issue of gun violence.

The filibuster is an attempt to amend a yearly funding bill for several federal departments and other agencies, including the Department of Justice. The filibuster began around 11:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) started the filibuster as part of his party’s push to debate adding gun control amendments to the 2017 Commerce, Justice and Science Spending Bill that was working its way through the Senate Wednesday. They want universal background checks, which they see as closing the “gun show loophole” and preventing suspected terrorists from purchasing firearms.

Murphy has said he will continue the filibuster for as long as it takes for the issue to be addressed.

The strategy comes a few days after the mass shooting of more than 100 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando during which 49 people were murdered.

Booker asked Murphy why, despite the fact that 82 percent of Americans support closing the loophole, does he feel that the Senate “is not moving on common sense legislation that will protect our nation, that will defend us against terrorists, that will prevent tragedies like an Orlando happening?”

Murphy replied that “research shows that on U.S. soil, people who are seeking to commit acts of terror rely almost exclusively on guns.”

Booker later said that from February 2004 to December 2014, there were “at least 2,333 cases where a known suspected terrorist tried to buy a firearm."

“If we know there’s that many people trying to do this and that we have the ability to stop these folks, my question is… isn’t this a glaring gap in our overall security procedures, policies, and structures in our country?” Booker said.

Booker posted at noon Wednesday that Democrats would “hold the Senate floor” and that “common sense gun safety” legislation must pass.

I'm just off Sen floor with @ChrisMurphyCT to say #ENOUGH of business as usual. We must pass common sense gun safety. We will hold Sen floor
— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) June 15, 2016

Sen. Robert Menendez, the senior senator from New Jersey, posed the question of just how long it takes to purchase an AR-15 assault rifle, the type of gun Omar Mateen used during the Orlando mass shooting, which was the deadliest in United States history.

WATCH: Heading 2 floor 2 stand & speak in solidarity w @corybooker & @chrismurphyct & against weapons of war #ENOUGH https://t.co/OWWQTXM70i
— Senator Bob Menendez (@SenatorMenendez) June 15, 2016

"Seven minutes," Menendez said, noting that the Founding Fathers "could not have imagined" when they adopted the Second Amendment to The Constitution that there would ever be a gun capable of firing 800 rounds a minute like the AR-15 is.

"I hope we can price the conscience of the senate to finally act," Menendez said.

The filibuster was in its fifth hour when Sen. Bob Casey, another Democrat, was speaking shortly before 4 p.m.

New Jersey's other senator, Bob Menendez, asked Watch the filibuster live here.