Nevada leaders call for gun control in wake of new FBI records
Members of Nevada’s congressional delegation and other elected officials urged lawmakers to pass gun legislation in response to the FBI records that provide new insight into the Oct. 1, 2017, mass shooting in Las Vegas.
Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., said the records from the FBI offer no solace to the friends and families of the victims and the survivors and “does not offer any resolution that could have prevented this horrible tragedy, short of real action on gun reforms.”
“It’s a false choice to say we can’t pass meaningful gun safety reforms and prevent weapons of war from getting into the wrong hands of everyday Americans while protecting the 2nd Amendment rights of law-abiding individuals,” Horsford said in a statement to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Former Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak, who served on the Clark County Commission at the time of the shooting and helped raise money for victims in the immediate aftermath, said he believed mental health issues had to be a factor.
“It’s still a tragedy that we live every day here,” Sisolak said. “It’s obviously going to live with us forever, what happened.”
Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, who was serving as Clark County sheriff at the time of the shooting, declined to comment on the new FBI records Thursday.
Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., who represents the district where the shooting took place, said there are still no clear answers for what happened on Oct. 1, and the devices that the shooter used have not been outlawed. She mentioned her Closing the Bump Stock Loophole Act, which seeks to ban the sale of bump stocks, devices that increase the rate of fire of semi-automatic rifles.
“We cannot give the families of victims in Las Vegas, Parkland, Monterey Park and now Nashville their loved ones back, but Congress can take action to stop gun violence,” Titus said in a statement to the Review-Journal. “We must, now.”
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., echoed Titus’ sentiments, saying she is focusing on supporting survivors and working to permanently ban bump stocks.
“The horrific event of 1 October left families broken and changed our state forever,” said Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., in a statement to the Review-Journal. “We need to prevent more communities from experiencing this kind of tragedy by continuing to fight for commonsense gun safety reform and a permanent ban on bump stocks that keeps dangerous weapons out of the hands of violent individuals.”
Clark County Commission Chair Jim Gibson told the Review-Journal on Thursday that the county had n0t been told that new records were coming, and he had not had a chance to read them.
“That was such a terrible tragedy,” he said. “It’s unfortunate to have to live it again.”
Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., and Rep. Susie Lee, D-Nev., were unavailable for comment. Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman, Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager, Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro and Assembly Majority Leader Sandra Jauregui, who attended the Route 91 Harvest music festival on the day of the shooting, declined to comment.
The gunman fatally shot 60 people at the festival on the Strip.
Contact Jessica Hill at jehill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @jess_hillyeah on Twitter. Review-Journal reporters Taylor R. Avery and Ricardo Torres-Cortez contributed to this story.
