Watch Senator Rosen’s Speech HERE.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, ahead of what will be seven years since the 1 October shooting in Las Vegas, U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) delivered remarks on the Senate floor to honor the sixty lives lost and highlight how Nevada was forever changed by this senseless violence, the deadliest mass shooting in American history. She also recognized the heroism of Las Vegas’s first responders and urged further action by Congress to prevent gun violence, including banning bump stocks.
Senator Rosen has been a leader in the fight against gun violence. Following this year’s Supreme Court decision to reverse the Trump-era bump stock ban, Senator Rosen joined bipartisan legislation to permanently ban bump stocks. Last year, she helped introduce the Resources for Victims of Gun Violence Act to provide all victims of gun violence and their loved ones with the resources to help meet medical, legal, financial, and other needs. Senator Rosen also recently helped introduce the Background Check Expansion Act to expand federal background checks to all commercial gun sales, including those made online and at gun shows. She helped pass the historic Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to enhance background checks on firearm purchases for individuals under 21, fund the implementation of red flag laws, combat firearms trafficking, and invest in school safety and mental health programs.
Below are Senator Rosen’s floor remarks as delivered:
Mr. President,
This year will mark seven years since my community of Las Vegas was forever changed on October 1st, 2017.
On that night, we experienced a tragedy on a scale far worse than anyone could have ever imagined.
Ten minutes. Ten minutes is all it took for a gunman to open fire on an unsuspecting crowd at a music festival, killing 58 innocent lives, injuring thousands, and leaving a permanent scar on our state.
Sadly, in the years since, two more victims of that night’s attack died because of injuries they received during the shooting, bringing the death toll to 60.
It remains the deadliest mass shooting in American history.
The families of the victims of that tragedy had their worlds shattered that day, their lives forever changed.
Families who didn’t get to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, holidays. And the families who never got to say goodbye to their loved ones.
That night also changed the lives in our city. People who were attending or working at the Route 91 Harvest festival, the first responders who ran towards danger to save lives.
And in the following days, we saw lines of people, lines of people around entire blocks willing to donate blood, willing to help in any way they could.
This kind of selflessness embodies the incredible spirit of our community. It showed the country why we’re Vegas Strong.
And as we remember and as we reflect on this tragedy, we must also commit ourselves to action so that no community has to experience the pain and suffering like we did.
The 1 October shooter was able to inflict as much pain and carnage as he did by using bump stocks.
This dangerous modification allowed his weapon to fire more bullets faster, as a way to inflict the most amount of pain on our city. Over 1,000 bullets, 1,000 bullets in just a matter of minutes.
And it was in response to this carnage that then-President Donald Trump issued a federal rule banning bump stocks. It helped save lives from these deadly modifications.
But unfortunately, the Supreme Court overturned this common-sense federal ban, allowing bump stocks to flow into our streets once again.
This shameful decision, shameful decision by the Supreme Court will put more lives at risk, which is why I joined bipartisan legislation to restore this common-sense federal ban on bump stocks.
And when members of this chamber tried to pass this bipartisan legislation, extremists in this body, what did they do? They blocked us, and some even had the audacity to say this legislation was trying to solve a “fake problem.”
A “fake problem.”
Mr. President, should we tell the families who lost a loved one at the hand of a firearm using a bump stock on 1 October that it’s a “fake problem?” A fake problem that they’re sad at every holiday, and every meal, and every Thanksgiving table that their loved one is missing? A “fake problem?”
Their grief is real. Their loss is real, and their loss is forever. This is not a “fake problem.”
It’s a very real problem, and there are real solutions. But once again, Congress has failed, year after year, to act.
Las Vegas knows how the real threat, what the real threat of bump stocks are and why we must act.
And as we approach the seventh anniversary of this unthinkable tragedy, I ask all my colleagues in this chamber to remember and to honor the memories of the victims, to honor their families, to honor everyone whose lives were forever changed from the night and the shooting on October 1st, 2017.
I also ask that we come together, Republicans and Democrats, in a bipartisan way to save lives by just passing common-sense legislation to ban bump stocks.
Thank you.
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