(CNN) Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy pressed his case for gun safety legislation on Thursday morning, just hours after he wrapped up a day-long filibuster on the Senate floor in an attempt to force a vote on the issue.

Murphy said he felt that it was necessary to stage his filibuster in order to force debate on an issue where the lack of action was "deeply offensive."

"Why I went down to the floor yesterday morning, and held it for 15 hours, is because we were coming off the worst shooting in American history, and there was no scheduled debate on the floor of the senate to try to force some consensus on these issues," Murphy told CNN's Chris Cuomo on "New Day."

"There was nothing that was going to happen in the United States Senate, no debate, in the wake of the worst mass shooting in American history, until this filibuster began. That was deeply offensive to many of us, in the sense that we forced that debate," he added.

The Connecticut senator also explained why Democrats were responding so aggressively to the Orlando shooting, and defended against criticism that the tragedy was being politicized.

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