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PROVIDENCE, R.I. — As investigators worked to reconstruct the events of a shooting that left multiple people wounded near the campus of Brown University, Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut delivered a stark warning: the nation, he said, is no longer merely failing to prevent gun violence, but is moving deliberately in the wrong direction.

In an extended interview following the attack, Mr. Murphy, a Democrat who has made gun policy a central focus of his career, framed the episode not as an isolated tragedy but as part of what he described as a foreseeable pattern — one shaped by political choices in Washington, especially under President Trump.

“When one of these shootings happens,” Mr. Murphy said, “the community never fully recovers.” He pointed to Sandy Hook, the elementary school massacre that occurred just weeks before he was sworn into the Senate 13 years ago, noting that each new act of violence forces survivors of earlier shootings to relive their trauma. “That cost doesn’t disappear,” he said. “It compounds.”

Authorities have said that a suspect is in custody and that several victims remain hospitalized. Officials emphasized that details about motive, age and background of the shooter were still unclear, urging caution against speculation. Brown University, an open campus integrated into the surrounding city, temporarily increased security while students and faculty grappled with the shock of violence in a place long considered safe.

Mr. Murphy argued that while Rhode Island has comparatively strict gun laws — including universal background checks, waiting periods and so-called red-flag provisions — no state can fully insulate itself when weapons move freely across state lines. He cited research showing that states with stronger gun regulations experience significantly lower rates of gun violence than those with looser laws, adding that firearms used in crimes often originate elsewhere.

But the senator went further, placing direct responsibility on the current administration. He accused President Trump of dismantling safeguards established after years of bipartisan effort, including the 2022 gun safety law passed in the aftermath of the Uvalde school shooting.

According to Mr. Murphy, the White House has moved to restore gun rights to individuals previously barred from owning firearms, eliminated the Office of Gun Violence Prevention and halted funding for mental health and community-based violence interruption programs. “Those decisions make violence more likely,” he said. “That is knowable. And it is foreseeable.”

The White House has rejected similar criticisms in the past, arguing that protecting Second Amendment rights does not equate to encouraging violence and that crime is best addressed through law enforcement and individual responsibility. Still, Mr. Murphy’s remarks reflect a broader frustration among Democrats who see limited prospects for further legislative action while Republicans control Congress and align closely with the president.

Despite that reality, Mr. Murphy said he would continue to pursue bipartisan solutions, noting that the 2022 legislation had once seemed politically impossible. “A month before Uvalde, people said nothing could get done,” he said. “Then something changed.”

Beyond firearms policy, Mr. Murphy highlighted what he described as a parallel crisis: an epidemic of loneliness and isolation, particularly among young men. He said that many mass shooters share common warning signs — withdrawal from community, escalating anger and untreated mental health struggles.

The now-defunded grant programs, he argued, were designed to identify those warning signs early and provide support before isolation hardened into violence. “The most important thing is to stop someone in crisis from accessing a weapon,” he said. “But we also have to surround those individuals with services before it’s too late.”

As the immediate emergency gave way to reflection, Mr. Murphy spoke emotionally about the long road ahead for Providence. He described conversations with university leaders, parents and students, including some who had already survived previous shootings earlier in their lives. “No one should have to live through even one of these,” he said.

He expressed confidence that the community would rally, while acknowledging that healing would be slow and incomplete. “The cameras will leave,” he said. “But the people here will still be carrying this.”

In closing, Mr. Murphy offered one of his most pointed criticisms, arguing that conservative leaders have normalized mass shootings as an unavoidable cost of American life. By treating such violence as routine, he said, political leaders implicitly accept it.

“That acceptance,” he warned, “is itself a choice.”

As Providence begins to mourn and recover, the debate Mr. Murphy articulated — over guns, mental health and political responsibility — shows little sign of abating. For communities repeatedly scarred by violence, the question is no longer whether the nation knows what to do, but whether it has the will to act.