Congresswoman Says What Republican Cowards Won’t: Las Vegas Massacre Was Domestic Terrorism

Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM) said what Republicans won’t when she called the Las Vegas massacre an act of domestic terrorism.

Lujan Grisham said in a statement provided to PoliticusUSA, “Americans are grieving today, and I pray for everyone who was affected by the tragic loss of life in Las Vegas. I am thankful for the doctors, nurses, police and first-responders, including concert-goers, who selflessly came to the aid of victims. Like other recent acts of domestic terrorism, we are once again in shock and unable to explain the senseless loss of life. Nobody wants to politicize a personal tragedy. At the same time, I understand why most Americans are frustrated and upset by the lack of action in Congress to address gun violence. We all have a right to be safe in our communities, and that includes a family-friendly concert in Las Vegas. While we can’t prevent every tragedy, we have a moral obligation to do everything we can to prevent mass shootings.”

Talking about the fact that giving people who shouldn’t have guns easy access to weapons is not politicization. No one is trying to exploit the loss of life and injuries for political purposes. How many Americans have to die before the country has a serious public policy discussion about the correlation between the ease of obtaining weapons and mass shootings?

After each mass shooting, Republicans say that now is not the time to talk about gun violence, but their point makes no sense. The days after Americans are senselessly mass slaughtered is the ideal time to talk about gun violence. The country has a problem, and policymakers who refuse to acknowledge the source of the issue are enabling the next mass shooter, and the one after that, and the one after that.

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We can’t normalize the violence and accept it as a part of American life. We can’t allow Republicans and the NRA to only apply the term domestic terror to incidents that don’t involve guns or white men.

The Las Vegas shooting, no matter the motive, was an act of domestic terrorism, and not treating it as such only perpetuates the environment that enables future mass killings.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association