Colorado's Presidential Hopefuls Voice Frustrations Over 2 More Deadly Mass Shootings
DENVER (CBS4) - Democratic presidential candidate and former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper reacted to two deadly mass shootings on Sunday. He spoke on the steps of the State Capitol building denouncing both shootings.
A shooting in El Paso, Texas on Saturday killed 20 people and left 26 injured; the shooter is alive and in custody. A shooting in Dayton, Ohio left 9 people dead and 27 others hurt early Sunday morning; the shooter was killed by police.
Hickenlooper says both shootings took him back to multiple mass shootings during his time as governor of Colorado. He urged the public to push their lawmakers to change gun laws.
"Every American should be calling their congressional representatives and say 'Alright, the House (of Representatives) passed a bill on universal background checks. Why isn't it that the Senate hasn't taken it up now?" Hickenlooper said.
He specifically pointed to shooting in Dayton saying the gunman hurt or killed 36 people in total in 60 seconds until police arrived and killed the shooter.
"How can we be standing by and not asking Congress to limit magazine capacity? We're not taking any guns away from anybody. We're not saying someone shouldn't have a gun," he said. "What does it take for Congress to finally do something?"
He followed up by saying, if elected president, he'd speak to congressional leaders to see who would be willing to "take some risk, the Republicans, and aren't scared of the NRA."
Hickenlooper says as president, he'd create a list of best practices to help communities heal from tragedy referencing the Colorado State Innovation Model, which ended July 31.
"Making it easier for people to talk about depression or feelings of alienation and get it out on the surface so you can address it sooner," he said.
Colorado's second presidential candidate, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, shared his thoughts on social media.
He tweeted again following the shooting in Dayton.
