Vegas Mayor: What Kind of People Are Growing Up in This World?
Just a month after the deadly mass shooting in Vegas, the country mourns again.
“What kind of people are growing up in this world, and in this country?” That's one of the first thoughts that crossed Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman's mind as she reflected on the most recent assault Sunday at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
35 days ago a gunman opened fire in her city, killing 58 people and injuring more than 500 concertgoers. This weekend, another man killed 26 and injured 20 in the small town in Texas.
And while many politicians and pundits react and call for stronger gun laws, Goodman says that these shootings, two of three that occurred within the last 17 months, may not have been stopped by different laws and aren't reflective of the majority of people in this country.
“You have to realize these are individual people, perpetrators. There’s something wrong with them,” she said during the interview with Cheddar. She adds that “it’s probably the publicity that they get out of it that makes them do these things.”
President Donald Trump also addressed the fatal Texas shooting on Sunday, sending his thoughts and prayers to victims and families and dismissing the idea that the shooting should immediately reignite the gun debate.
“I think that mental health is the problem here,” the commander-in-chief said, addressing the nation from his five-country Asia trip. The president said that the shooter was a “very deranged individual, [with] a lot of problems over a long period of time,” adding that it was a bit too soon to discuss gun control laws.
But not everyone is content with the language that some politicians are using to address the recent tragedies.
New York governor Andrew Cuomo said that while warm wishes are nice, leaders are elected to lead. He blames the lack of action on fear and encouraged elected officials to “do something.”
“They are afraid to act because they are afraid of three letters. You know what those three letters are? NRA,” he said in a statement. “It’s political fear.”
Still, Mayor Goodman states that the majority of the people who live in this country are peaceful and can handle their guns. She argued that if the country took guns away, people with mental illness will still be able to find the weapons on the black market.
As for Vegas’ recovery, the mayor said the city is moving along.
“We practice all the time,” she said. “Life goes on here.”
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Catching you up on what you need to know on April 5, 2022, with Biden's call for a war crimes trial for Putin, another arrest made in the Sacramento mass shooting, NYC rolling out a campaign against Florida’s "Don’t Say Gay" bill, an aluminum shortage potentially affecting beer and cat food cans, and more.
After a devastating mass shooting in Sacramento over the weekend that killed six people and wounded a dozen more, arguments about gun reform are also resurfacing. David Pucino, deputy chief counsel at Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, joined Cheddar News to talk about efforts to curb gun violence such as community intervention programs — and the more that needs to be done by lawmakers. "One thing that would be really important is at the federal level closing the loopholes that allow for private sales to go forward without a background check," he noted.
