Following the second public shooting in less than a week, Majority Leader Harry Reid said he does not have the votes to bring up a gun control bill in the Senate.
“I would love to bring it back up, but I can’t do it until I have the votes, and at this stage I don’t have the votes,” Mr. Reid, Nevada Democrat, told reporters Tuesday afternoon. “We have to keep working the issue, but it’s ’shooting of the week’ is what we have now. The problem is, in the last week we’ve had more than one.”
Monday night, a gunman at a New Jersey mall fired at least six bullets before killing himself, CNN reported. No one else was injured in the attack. On Friday, a man opened fire at Los Angeles International Airport, killing one Transportation Security Administration agent and injuring four other people.
Mr. Reid said that arming TSA agents in light of the incident is being looked at but that the head of the TSA has said it isn’t necessary.
“I think there are other ways we can secure the safety of these airports,” Mr. Reid said. “One way we could do it is have the same standards at every airport. They’re different now. And I think it would be much better if we had a rule in all airports as to where people leave, what kind of security we have there, where they come into the airport itself without arming everybody.”
• Jacqueline Klimas can be reached at jklimas@washingtontimes.com.
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