Nevada congressional Democrats call for ‘bump stock’ hearing

WASHINGTON — One month ago, Tia Christiansen was in Las Vegas, scheduled to work at the Route 91 Harvest festival, but felt ill so she stayed in her room on the 32nd floor of Mandalay Bay.

At a Capitol Hill news conference Wednesday, she recalled the horror that came next: the sound of rapid gunfire that rattled her sense of security and the fear of the unknown as the loud bursts shattered the silence.

Christiansen, 48, said she tried to make herself “as small as possible.”

SWAT came into her room when the shooting stopped and evacuated her to the ground floor, where she joined other survivors of the Las Vegas Strip shooting.

“It was a mass group of people in shock,” she said following the news conference.

Christiansen and other survivors of the worst mass shooting in U.S. history joined Nevada’s congressional Democrats, who called for a hearing on gun legislation that they said would prevent future tragedies.

The news conference was held one month after the Oct. 1 shooting that killed 58 people and injured more than 546 others. Victims who lost their lives were remembered. Law enforcement, first responders and volunteers who gave aid and donated blood were commemorated.

Rep. Ruben Kihuen, D-Nev., and Rep. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., sent a letter to House Judiciary Chairman Robert Goodlatte, R-Va., urging a hearing on several bills filed after the shooting to restrict or ban the use of “bump stocks” that were used in the deadly attack.

The shooter, Stephen Paddock, 64, of Mesquite, equipped 12 semi-automatic assault rifles with bump stocks to increase the rate of fire of the weapons, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Robert Gaafar, who was in Las Vegas with colleagues for work, was at the concert when the gunfire began during the music. At first it was just a “few pops,” then the shots increased. He ducked behind a large beer trailer to avoid the gunfire.

“I’ll never forget the fear,” Gaafar, 33, said.

At the news conference, Gaafar said there were so many gunshots it sounded “like there were multiple shooters inside the crowd.”

Christiansen, too, thought there were multiple gunmen because of the amount of gunfire in the hotel.

Paddock died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his 32nd floor room at Mandalay Bay, just doors away from Christiansen’s room.

“We owe it to the victims and survivors of this heartbreaking and heinous attack to thoroughly examine why these devices are sold legally,” Kihuen said.

Just days after the Las Vegas shooting, Goodlatte said he was open to looking at legislation pertaining to bump stocks. No hearing has yet been scheduled.

Republicans in Congress have urged ATF to review current law to determine if regulations on bump stocks can be tightened. President Donald Trump has instructed the ATF to conduct that review.

Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., co-sponsored a bill with Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., a former FBI agent, that would give ATF the framework to regulate bump stocks like machine guns and silencers under the National Firearms Act.

Rosen has co-sponsored bills that would ban bump stocks, but also planned to co-sponsor the bipartisan legislation Titus filed to regulate the devices.

“If we can get that — that is a start,” she said.

In the Senate, Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada has co-sponsored legislation with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. That bill would ban the manufacture and sale of bump stocks.

Cortez Masto, a former Nevada attorney general and federal prosecutor in Washington, said the issue is not about taking guns away from people.

She said you can’t legislate away evil, but lawmakers can take common-sense measures to prevent future gun violence.

For Christiansen, the shooting in Las Vegas was not the first time she had been touched by gun violence. She lost a cousin, a child, in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut, where 20 first-graders were killed with six educators.

Gaafar said he traveled from New York to Washington to take part in the news conference and use his voice to support gun legislation.

“I felt I had to share my experience,” he said.

Contact Gary Martin at gmartin@reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7390. Contact @garymartindc on Twitter.