WASHINGTON (Nexstar) — President Trump sent condolences to the victims of the mass shooting in Gilroy, California, but Democratic lawmakers from California are calling for tougher action.
Cell phone video from the Gilroy Garlic Festival shows people panicking as gunfire is heard in the background. Police said officers responded within one minute — but in those 60 seconds, three people died and at least a dozen were hurt.
The officers who responded were armed with handguns while the gunman — a 19-year-old — had an assault-style rifle he legally bought in Nevada. Though they were outgunned, the officers quickly shot back and killed the gunman.
But Christian Heyne with the Brady Organization said when a gunman has an assault rifle it’s not a fair fight.
“Our law enforcement officers are being outgunned,” Heyne said. “We’re talking about tactical features that were designed for the battlefield.”
A federal assault weapons ban was signed into law in the mid 1990s, but it was written so that it was only in effect for 10 years, and Congress allowed the ban to expire in 2004.
California Democratic Congresswoman Jackie Speier reacted to the shooting by calling on Congress to renew the assault weapons ban.
Sen. Chuck Schumer addressed the Gilroy shooting at a festival in Brooklyn. “There’s no words for the senselessness of these tragedies which continue unabated while the Majority Leader (Mitch McConnell) refuses to even debate common sense gun laws.”
Schumer criticized his Republican colleagues for failing to call a vote in the Senate on the universal background checks bill passed by the House of Representatives.
