Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said Monday morning in light of the Las Vegas mass shooting, the largest in U.S. history, that he was “furious” at Congressional inaction on gun control legislation which he has been pushing since the Sandy Hook mass shooting in 2012.
"Although many details of this mass shooting remain unclear,” Blumenthal acknowledged, “one thing is certain: yet again, we are watching in horror as another American community is torn apart by the terrible devastation wrought by a gunman."
"My heart breaks for Las Vegas: the victims, their families, their friends, and their entire community,” he added. “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’s fellow senator from Connecticut and gun control advocate, Sen. Chris Murphy (D), also took the opportunity to express anger at Congress over failure to act on gun control legislation.
“Nowhere but America do horrific large-scale mass shootings happen with this degree of regularity,” Sen. Murphy claimed. “Last night's massacre may go down as the deadliest in our nation's history, but already this year there have been more mass shootings than days in the year.”
“This must stop,” he said. “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. It's time for Congress to get off its ass and do something.”
The shooting at a Las Vegas concert Sunday night left over 50 dead and over 500 injured. Many other prominent Democrats, including Hillary Clinton, immediately called for increased gun control regulation in light of the shooting.
Police are continuing to investigate a motive and how the shooter, Stephen Paddock, 64, obtained the weapons used in the shooting.