Sandy Hook senator after Las Vegas shooting: Congress must “get off its ass and do something”

Sen. Chris Murphy, the Connecticut Democrat who became a vocal gun control advocate after his state experienced the mass shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, did not mince words after a gunman opened fire on concertgoers in Las Vegas late Sunday night.

“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,” Murphy said in a statement. “There are, and the thoughts and prayers of politicians are cruelly hollow if they are paired with continued legislative indifference.”

Murphy continued, “It’s time for Congress to get off its ass and do something.”

At least 58 people have been killed, and more than 500 hospitalized after a lone gunman opened fire on an outdoor concert on the Las Vegas Strip.

The gunman, identified as 64-year-old Stephen Paddock, reportedly had more than 10 weapons in the hotel room from which he opened fire on the crowd.

While many lawmakers have made denounced the shooting, Murphy’s statement was one of the most pointed, calling for reform in the wake of the attack — thought to be the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

“This must stop,” Murphy said in his statement.

Oct. 2, 2017, 11:55 a.m.:This story has been updated.