HARTFORD, Conn. _ Hours after a gunman opened fire in Las Vegas, killing more than 50 in what is considered the most deadly mass shooting in modern U.S. history, politicians were renewing demands for action on meaningful gun reform.
"It's time for Congress to get off its ass and do something," said U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat who as a freshman senator put gun reform in the spotlight following the shooting deaths of 20 children and six adults in Newtown.
By mid-morning, authorities in Las Vegas were saying more than 50 people were killed and upwards of 500 people were hospitalized when a gunmen opened fire from a 32nd floor hotel room across from a country music festival. This latest mass shooting, officials believe, is the nation's deadliest.
"This must stop. It is positively infuriating that my colleagues in Congress are so afraid of the gun industry that they pretend there aren't public policy responses to this epidemic. There are, and the thoughts and prayers of politicians are cruelly hollow if they are paired with continued legislative indifference," Murphy said. In June of last year, Murphy led a near 15-hour Senate filibuster of a spending bill until Republican leadership agreed to vote on gun control measures, all of which ultimately failed to pass.
In an address Monday morning, President Donald Trump, calling the shooting an "act of pure evil," did not mention gun reform, but did call for unity in the nation. "We pray for the day that evil is banished and the innocent are safe from hatred and fear," Trump said.
The president's press secretary deflected questions about the gun debate from reporters during an afternoon briefing. "There is a time and place for a political debate, but now is a time to unite as a country. There is currently an open and on-going law enforcement investigation. A motive is yet to be determined and it would be premature for us to discuss policy when we don't full know all the facts or what took place last night," Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.
U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty, who took office in Connecticut's 5th District just weeks after the Newtown shooting, was on the phone Monday morning with elected Congresswoman Jacky Rosen from Las Vegas, who is less than a year into her first term. Together, they are now bound by tragedy.
"I just got off the phone with Jacky Rosen, a new colleague for Nevada, having to have the talk," Esty told the Hartford Courant. She warned the freshmen congresswoman of the stresses on her and her staff as well as having to prepare for dozens of funerals.
"This is the talk I've now had to have with fellow members of Congress that have had to join the fraternity and sorority of members of Congress who have had a mass shooting in their district. ... It's appalling that we should have to be doing this," Esty said.
Like her colleagues, Esty said work on gun reform needs to continue and everyone, including gun owners, need to come to the table.
"We need a sensible step forward and that can only be done if sensibly gun owners work with members of congress," Esty said. "Please come to the table, please help us find a better way forward because this should be unacceptable to all of us."
The perceived inaction since Sandy Hook led Democratic Rep. Jim Himes to say there is blood on the hands of Congress members.
"Almost 5 years after the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School took the lives of 26 innocents, including 20 children. And Congress. Has. Done. Nothing," Himes said in a blunt statement. "Until we face down the gun lobby and have the spine to take the steps necessary to protect our families, there is blood on our hands and this tragic, terrible story will play out again and again and again and again."
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat who himself championed gun control reform in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre, equally challenged the lack of response by Congress to gun violence's lethal impact.
"It has been barely a year since what was previously the largest mass shooting in American history _ the deadly attack at Pulse nightclub. In the interim, thousands more have been lost to the daily, ruthless toll of gun violence. Still, Congress refuses to act. I am more than frustrated, I am furious," Blumenthal said in a statement.
By late-morning Monday, U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., had called on House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., to allow the House to immediately consider gun reform including banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, requiring a background check for every commercial gun sale, and supporting federal research into the causes of gun violence.
"The frequency of these awful events _ Newtown, Aurora, Orlando, Las Vegas, and the list unfortunately goes on _ is striking and must be met with immediate action," DeLauro said in a statement.
Joining the call for reform, U.S. Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., challenged Republicans to push measure through the House. Larson, with Georgia Congressman John Lewis, led a sit-in protest among Democrat House members to push gun control measures the week after Murphy's filibuster.
"With each day that passes, Congress remains complicit in these acts of violence. Silence and prayers for the fallen are simply not enough," Larson said in a statement.
Nelba Marquez-Greene, who lost her 6-year-old daughter Ana Grace Marquez-Greene when Adam Lanza opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012, was critical of Congress and those who said there was nothing to do.
In an early-morning tweet, Marquez-Greene wrote: "I don't know what to say besides this is on every congressperson who said in (2013): There is simply nothing we could do."
A gun reform advocacy organization in Connecticut had hastily created a petition Monday calling for Congress to act. "Now is not the time for silence. It's time for outrage," CT Against Gun Violence wrote in the Change.org petition.
Scott Wilson, president of the Connecticut Citizen Defense League, a grassroots gun rights organization, condemned the reaction calling for gun reform before everything is known.
"The 2nd Amendment is intended for individuals to protect themselves from violence, not perpetrate it. There is no justification for anyone to commit mass murder. Unfortunately, the usual gun control entities are calling for knee-jerk reforms before all the facts are in. This is entirely the wrong approach in our view," the statement read.
Erica Lafferty, whose mother, Dawn Hochsprung, was killed in the Sandy Hook elementary school, was angered by this latest mass shooting, an all too familiar event in this country.
"For those asking how I am doing _ I'm angry," Lafferty said in statement via Twitter. "I'm triggered. I'm terrified. I miss my mom. I hurt for her. I feel like I've failed. Mostly, I am (expletive) sick of this happening all of the time."
Lafferty said people need to stop sitting on the sidelines and "thinking how horrible it is to see another shooting like this happen."
For those who elect to do nothing, Lafferty said, "You're part of the problem."
In a later tweet, Lafferty, of Watertown, said: "It's time for politicians to stop cowering behind the gun lobby and start standing with American families."
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy stopped short of mentioning gun reform in reaction to the shooting, but, like Lafferty, drawn attention to the regularity of these incidents. Malloy ordered flags to half-staff to honor the victims.
"This morning, our nation woke up to yet another senseless tragedy _ one that we have seen repeated far too many times," Malloy said.
