Sean Hannity lashed out at Democrats who he says are ‘exploiting’ the Las Vegas country music concert massacre to push for tighter gun control.
The Fox host launched into an impassioned monologue at the start of his Monday night show to chastise left-wing liberals who called for changes to the law within hours of Sunday’s shooting.
Fifty nine people were killed and at least 527 were injured when millionaire gunman Stephen Paddock, 64, opened fire on the Route 91 Harvest Festival from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel.
Paddock had 23 guns inside the his hotel suite including legally purchased rifles which had been modified with bump stocks and placed on tripods to automatically churn out bullets. At his home in Mesquite, Nevada, police discovered another 19 guns and explosive devices.
His motive has not yet been established. The man shot himself before he could be brought down by a SWAT team on Sunday night.
Since the atrocity on Sunday, prolific Democrats including Hillary Clinton have spoken out against the NRA.
Hannity described their rebukes as ‘despicable’, ‘sick’ and ‘beyond the pale’ on Monday.
Fox News host Sean Hannity ripped into Democrats who he said were ‘exploiting’ the Las Vegas massacre on Sunday night by calling for tighter gun control
‘Democrats have rushed to politicize this tragedy in an absolutely despicable display.
‘Some of these victims are still in the hospital clinging to life. We still don’t have all the facts.
‘Bodies weren’t even in the morgue yet. Parents were at hospitals with their kids hanging on to life. None of this mattered to the left in this country.
‘Their impulse to politicize this tragedy as they do other tragedies is beyond the pale they’re using this tragedy. Why? To score cheap political points and push a gun control agenda.’
He held some media outlets in the same contempt and replayed segments from MSNBC, CNN and GMA during which security experts and law enforcement officials pored over the issue.
Hannity gave special mention to Hillary Clinton who tweeted early on Monday morning: ‘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.
59 people were killed and 527 were injured in the shooting on Sunday night. It is the deadliest mass shooting in US history. Hannity said the bodies of the victims ‘weren’t even in the morgue’ before Democrats began calling for law changes on Monday
Investigators load bodies from the scene of the mass shooting on Monday; the mass shooting that occurred on Sunday is the deadliest in American history
At 7am on Monday, around seven hours after the first shots were fired, Hillary Clinton issued these tweets saying ‘grief isn’t enough’
‘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.’
On Monday night, Hannity slammed her comments as ‘pathetic’.
‘Clinton weighed in less than nine hours after the shooting and went deep into the gutter of politics. she says she doesn’t wanna play.
‘Here’s my question, do they have any decency? Any thoughts about the families? We don’t know the details yet but this is their initial impulse.
‘I don’t see it. Imagine if the president today brought up the second amendment. How would the news media int his country have reacted.’
He then listed the number of mass shootings which occurred under Democratic Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama including Sandy Hook and the Pulse nightclub shooting.
Hannity however failed to acknowledge that the same calls for gun control were made after those tragedies.
The host then appeared to suggest that if Paddock had not had access to the arsenal of weapons that he did, he would have found other means to commit the atrocity.
‘We don’t know the motivation of this lunatic. We know it’s premeditated, we know it’s evil. I could make 100 different arguments. If it wasn’t a gun it would be a car or a bomb or whatever,’ he said.
Within hours of the shooting on Sunday, there was discussion across the board of what President Trump’s political response would be.
Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic Senator for Massachusetts, echoed Clinton’s comments on Monday
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi repeated calls for a Select Committee on gun violence
Carolyn Goodman, the Independent Mayor of Las Vegas, has refrained from the subject
He vowed to address the subject later on Tuesday as he left the White House for Puerto Rico which is still reeling from the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria.
On Monday morning, Clinton fired off three tweets on the subject. She began by offering her prayers to the victims of the shooting and their families, then swiftly turned her attention to the NRA and its supporters.
‘Las Vegas, we are grieving with you—the victims, those who lost loved ones, the responders, & 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.
‘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,’ she said.
The president has not addressed the issue of gun control since Sunday’s shooting
Her comments were echoed by Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren who, tweeting at around the same time, said: ‘Thoughts & prayers are NOT enough. Not when more moms & dads will bury kids this week, & more sons & daughters will grow up without parents.
‘Tragedies like Las Vegas have happened too many times. We need to have the conversation about how to stop gun violence. We need it NOW.’
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is now calling for a Select Committee to focus on gun violence.
Rep. Mike Thompson of California, who chairs the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, went as far on Monday as to say that lawmakers were ‘complicit’ in the tragedies if they did nothing to change the law.
Las Vegas has some of the most relaxed gun laws in the country, permitting open carry and the open sale of machine guns.
In Nevada, residents are not required to hold a license or permit to buy firearms and there is no limit to how many one person can own. It is also legal to bring guns into casinos or public places.
The gunman was 64-year-old Stephen Paddock (seen here in an undated photo) who is believed to have purchased his arsenal of weapons legally in Nevada. He shot himself before a SWAT team could get to him on Sunday night
Among the 23 weapons found inside his hotel sutite was a a Colt AR-15, a semi-automatic which costs around $1,000
An AK-47 was also found in the room with the other weapons. AKs can come with fully automatic fire functions, but it’s not known if that was the case here. AKs vary in price depending on the manufacturer, but cost around $1,000
Paddock also had three of these FN-15 rifles, as well as guns made by Sig Sauer. Some of the semi-automatic guns had been fitted with bump-stocks that allow for, essentially, fully automatic fire. They’re priced around $1,300
Paddock smashed out the windows of his Mandalay Bay suite for a clear shot on concert-goers
The state’s Republican senator Dean Heller has held back on discussing local laws since Sunday’s shooting.
Instead, he has focused his messages on where residents can give blood to help hospitalized victims.
Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman, who is an Independent, steered clear of the topic when she spoke to CNN on Monday morning.
‘What we need to do is concentrate on the beautiful lives, these innocent people. They are going to live with this forever.
‘This is another sad, sad day in the world. We know we have these sick, sick people that are bound to go ahead and continue to repeat it.
‘Each one of us has a responsibility to do our individual part to make it better and to stop this from happening,’ she said.
Politicians are not the only ones to have weighed in on the issue of gun control since the horror unfolded.
On Monday, comedian Jimmy Kimmel – a Las Vegas native – teared up as he addressed the tragedy at the start of his show.
‘I don’t know why do our so-called leaders — continue to allow this to happen?’ he asked the audience.
Megyn Kelly, who was left out of NBC News’s live coverage of the massacre, is now planning to host a town hall meeting where she will ask audience members for their thoughts on how the government should respond with legislation on the topic.