On May 24, 2022, Senator Kyrsten Sinema met with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Whip John Thune for advice on which Republican senators would be willing to negotiate a gun safety bill. They directed her to Senators John Cornyn and Thom Tillis. Thirty minutes later, Senator Chris Murphy texted Sinema to join the negotiation, as Murphy had been one of the Senate's most prominent gun control advocates since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in his state in 2012. Cornyn, Murphy, Sinema, and Tillis began negotiations the next day.
