LAS VEGAS _ A visibly shaken Beto O'Rourke condemned the availability of weapons of war after a deadly mass shooting in his hometown of El Paso, Texas.
"Keep that shit on the battlefield," he said at a candidates' forum here, his voice deepening. "Do not bring it into our communities."
O'Rourke broke the news of the attack to a crowd of about 400 _ members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union _ and his remarks appeared to straddle deep sadness and simmering anger over the mass shooting.
The former El Paso mayor and congressman was on a two-day visit to Nevada when the shooting occurred. He scratched his afternoon events in the Reno area and called off a planned California campaign swing so he could return home to El Paso.
"I'm incredibly sad and it's very hard to think about this," he said. "But I'll tell you, El Paso is the strongest place in the world. This community is going to come together. I'm going back there right now to be with my family and to be with my hometown."
Multiple people were killed or wounded during the rampage in a large shopping mall in the Texas border city, according to authorities. Video of the aftermath showed multiple people dead or wounded in a parking lot.
The other Texan in the presidential field, Julian Castro, also called for gun control.
"My heart is with the people of El Paso today as they cope with a devastating mass shooting _ the scope of which we are still learning," the former San Antonio mayor and Housing secretary said in a tweet. "This attack is a tragic reminder of our government's failure to do its most basic duty: to protect American lives. We need gun reform now."
California Sen. Kamala Harris updated the forum crowd on the shooting and said it was time to ask what kind of country America is.
"We have to agree we can't tolerate this kind of gun violence anymore," Harris told the union members.
The event at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas was designed for candidates to speak to issues important to the 1.4 million members of AFSCME. Each candidate got about 15 minutes alone to tackle the rights of union workers to collectively bargain, how healthcare might be reformed and the specter of gun violence in the wake of the shooting.
Almost every candidate in the Democratic primary field supports universal background checks, implementing "red flag" laws to take away guns from high-risk individuals, and bringing back a ban on the sale of "assault" weapons similar to the one the nation had between 1994 and 2004. And they have not been apologetic about it.
President Donald Trump has opposed Democratic proposals to ban assault weapons and impose universal background checks on gun buyers. But after a gunman's 2017 massacre of 58 people at an outdoor concert in Las Vegas, Trump's administration banned the sale of "bump stock" accessories that increase the firing power of semiautomatic rifles.
Vice President Mike Pence tweeted that he was saddened by the loss of life in El Paso. "Our prayers are with the victims, their families, and the entire community."
