Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton Respond to the Las Vegas Shooting
Sunday night saw the deadliest mass shooting in American history, where a gunman fired from a hotel room in Las Vegas into the crowd of an outdoor country music festival, killing more than fifty people and injuring 400 more. Panic erupted as concertgoers fled the scene of the concert, where country artist Jason Aldean had been performing for an audience of more than 22,000.
Former President Barack Obama and 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton responded quickly to the shooting on social media Monday morning, sharing their grief and outrage with the nation.
Michelle & I are praying for the victims in Las Vegas. Our thoughts are with their families & everyone enduring another senseless tragedy.
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) October 2, 2017
Obama, whose presidency saw several mass shootings, including the Pulse Nightclub shooting last year in Orlando and the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012, shared his condolences on Twitter early Monday morning. “Michelle & I are praying for the victims in Las Vegas,” he wrote. “Our thoughts are with their families & everyone enduring another senseless tragedy.”
Clinton, who shared her sadness over “this cold-blooded massacre,” also addressed the need for more stringent gun control — particularly, calling out the issue of gun silencers, which Congress may soon make easier to access. Meanwhile, President Trump, a vocal champion of gun rights, did not mention guns at a press conference Monday morning.
Las Vegas, we are grieving with you—the victims, those who lost loved ones, the responders, & all affected by this cold-blooded massacre.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 2, 2017
“Las Vegas, we are grieving with you — the victims, those who lost loved ones, the responders, and all affected by this cold-blooded massacre. The crowd fled at the sound of gunshots. Imagine the deaths if the shooter had a silencer, which the NRA wants to make easier to get,” Clinton wrote on Facebook and Twitter. “Our grief isn’t enough. We can and must put politics aside, stand up to the NRA, and work together to try to stop this from happening again.”
Before his press conference Monday morning, President Trump also addressed the shooting on Twitter, writing, “My warmest condolences and sympathies to the victims and families of the terrible Las Vegas shooting. God bless you!”
(Photo via Ethan Miller/Getty)