Tom Cotton: More facts are needed before making an assessment on Las Vegas shooting

Sen. Tom Cotton said Tuesday that until more facts are known in the Las Vegas shooting case, the focus should really be on mourning.

“Until we know more about the circumstances and the facts, I think it’s hard to draw conclusions,” Mr. Cotton, Arkansas Republican, said on “The Hugh Hewitt Show.”

He said that from the reports he’s read, there is no clear motive or reason the gunman, Stephen Paddock, decided to open fire on concert goers. The Route 91 Harvest Festival was finishing its final night when Paddock opened fire from his hotel room in the Mandalay Bay Resort. So far, 59 people have been killed and over 500 injured in the attack, making it the largest mass shooting in recent U.S. history.

“I don’t think we have confirmation, yet, of the kinds of weapons that were used, and where he obtained them, and under the circumstances that he obtained them. So I think we have to gather all those facts before we make any conclusions,” Mr. Cotton said.

As a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Mr. Cotton said it is hard to imagine how Paddock may have obtained the type of weapon that could kill that many people. He said those types of weapons, some of which are used by the military, are kept under “multiple locks” on military bases.

“It’s not something that you just find at Wal-Mart or a local pawn shop or anything else. Machine guns have been very strictly regulated in this country for 80 years. They’ve been nearly prohibited for 30 years,” he said.

Details on the exact weapons Paddock used were not immediately known, but he was said to have 23 different firearms in his hotel room.