- In our closer look this week,
the fallout and reaction in the wake
of the Las Vegas shooting.
That shooting has put Republicans on the defensive
over their opposition to new gun restrictions
and their efforts to eliminate existing ones.
This week Republicans halted at least temporarily
a plan to advance legislation making it easier
to buy gun silencers.
The shooting in Las Vegas that left at least 59 dead
and hundreds injured magnified those efforts.
House Speaker Paul Ryan says the focus should be
on mental health rather than on gun restrictions.
- So I think it's important that as we see the dust settle
and we see what was behind some of these tragedies,
that mental health reform is a critical ingredient
to making sure that we can try and prevent some of these
things from happening in the past.
So that's just one example of the things that Congress
has done to make sure that we can try
and get ahead of these problems.
- Following the attack, Wisconsin Republican
U.S. Senator Ron Johnson, who chairs
the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Committee, said, "My committee will work to support the
"federal role in investigating this attack
"and protecting against further threats.
"As Americans", he says, "we must unite to defeat threats
"to our nation's security, both foreign and domestic."
Wisconsin's Democratic U.S. Senator, Tammy Baldwin,
said in a statement, "It's frankly hard to comprehend a
"tragedy of this magnitude.
"It's evil and senseless.
"So to my colleagues, let's move past thoughts and prayers.
"It's time", she says, "for action."
According to Wisconsin laws, machine guns
or any other fully automatic guns for the most part
are illegal.
Under federal law there are some exceptions.
You can purchase what's called a bump stock legally
in Wisconsin or online,
which can convert a single-fire semiautomatic gun
into a fully automatic weapon
that Fires 400 to 600 shots per minute.
However in Wisconsin, it's a felony to modify a weapon
to make it automatic using that device.
Senator Johnson and Speaker Ryan say they are open
to the idea of banning bump stocks.