Rosen Delivers Floor Speech Honoring Victims of 1 October Shooting in Las Vegas & Calls on Congress to Pass Bump Stock Ban

Watch the full speech HERE.

WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) delivered a floor speech to mark the 1 October shooting in Las Vegas. In her speech, Senator Rosen honored the 60 lives lost as a result of the tragedy and highlighted how Nevada was forever changed by this senseless act of gun violence, the deadliest mass shooting in American history. Senator Rosen also recognized the heroism of Las Vegas's first responders and urged Congress to help prevent gun violence by passing her bipartisan bill to ban bump stocks.

Below is a transcript of Senator Rosen's remarks:

For the residents of Southern Nevada and so many others, October 1st is no ordinary day. On October 1st, 2017 my hometown of Las Vegas was struck by an unimaginable tragedy that forever changed our communities.

We experienced an attack on a scale far worse than anyone could have ever imagined. A devastating tragedy that ripped families apart and destroyed lives.

You know, during any given weekend, the Las Vegas Strip is buzzing with tourists and visitors from around the world, and that was the case on October 1st, 2017.

That night, tens of thousands of people came to Las Vegas to attend the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival and enjoy a fun night with friends and good music, and the weather was beautiful.

But in just ten minutes, their lives - and our entire state - would be changed forever.

Ten minutes, ten minutes is all it took for a gunman to open fire on an unsuspecting crowd, killing 58 innocent people, injuring thousands, and leaving a permanent scar on the hearts of everyone in our state and the hearts of the family and friend of everyone injured or killed.

In the years since, we've lost two more individuals as a result of this tragedy, which remains the deadliest mass shooting in American history.

So I want you to think about what that means.

The families of the victims of that tragedy had their worlds shattered in just ten minutes that day, ten minutes that day to change their lives forever.

Families who now don't get to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, holidays. Families who never got to say goodbye to their loved ones.

I think this is one of the hardest things, they never got to say goodbye to the people that they loved.

That night also changed the lives of everyone in our city.

People who were attending or working at the festival. Nevadans who were just driving down the strip, and the first responders who ran toward danger to help save lives.

In the chaos and confusion of that night, our heroic first responders, our police officers, our firefighters, our paramedics ran towards the scene, they saved countless lives.

I know taxi drivers, everyone ran to try and help people escape..

In the midst of this darkness, we saw our community go above and beyond to help others.

Our entire state rallied together. We saw lines of people around entire blocks waiting hours to donate blood, willing to donate blood to save the lives of complete strangers in the middle of a mass casualty.

I remember that day going to the line to talk to people, trying to comfort folks in the midst of those first few days. And there was a woman in line to give blood and I went up to talk to her and she put her arms out like this and said I don't have much, but blood, blood is all I have to give.

She started crying, I started crying, it was such a moving moment. She goes this is what I can give, arms outstretched.

I want everyone to think about that. The hearts of so many in a tragedy go out to those they don't even know to do what they can and give what they can. Coming straight from the heart.

And these selfless acts, not just this woman, this was one of so many that I was proud to hear and be part of, showed the country why we're Vegas strong.

I'm here today to honor the memories of those who we've lost as a result of that terrible night on 1 October and everyone else who was impacted.

As we remember and reflect on this event, we must also commit ourselves to action to make sure no other community in the nation goes through what we went through.

In the last few years, we've seen shootings at universities including UNLV in Las Vegas in schools, in places where people go every day, like supermarkets and churches. Mr. President, we saw that this week.

Just this year alone, there have already been 53 school shootings in the United States.

So it's clear we need to act, and there are things we can do on a bipartisan basis.

The 1 October shooter relied on bump stocks, which are dangerous devices that attach to guns to make them fire bullets faster, so that a shooter can fire more bullets in a short period of time, in order to inflict as much pain and carnage as possible. And I hope we could agree that nobody wants that. No one should want that.

And in response to this unprecedented tragedy in 2017, President Trump issued a federal rule banning bump stocks, and it did help save countless lives from these deadly modifications.

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court overturned this common-sense federal ban, allowing these dangerous bump stocks to flow into our streets once again.

And so this puts more lives and communities at risk, which is why I helped introduce bipartisan legislation earlier this year to restore this common-sense federal ban on bump stocks.

Because we have the power to do something. Let's pass this bipartisan bill and save lives before the next tragedy hits another unsuspecting community.

Because trust me, nobody wants to go through this, no community, nobody wants to give this speech, nobody wants to look in the eyes of the families, nobody wants to go to that reunification center, nobody wants to go to the hospitals, nobody wants to go and see the memorials grow time after time, no one wants to see this in community after community every single day.

There has to be some common sense in what we can do.

As we approach the eighth anniversary of the 1 October shooting, I ask all of my colleagues in this chamber to remember and honor the memories of the victims and everyone whose lives were forever changed that night.

I also ask that we come together, Republicans and Democrats, in a bipartisan way to save lives by passing our common-sense bill to ban bump stocks.

I think it would make a difference, and I just pray that those out there watching find comfort in remembering that their loved one's memory serves as a blessing to them, and we will always continue to honor them.

Thank you.

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