Families safer after meaningful first step on gun control

This fall we will remember the five-year anniversary of the Oct. 1 shooting. It does not feel like five years. When I close my eyes, I can still see and feel it vividly. Going to a concession stand, hearing Jason Aldean onstage and enjoying an incredible concert.

And then I hear the sound that I will never forget; thousands of rounds of gunfire and bullets raining down on us, endlessly. I remember what it felt like to run for my life, trying to find somewhere, anywhere to hide as people around me were struck and fell. I remember hearing the sirens of the first responders arriving while the gunman continued to spray bullets from 30 stories in the sky.

I survived that night, but unfortunately the rampage of gun violence has continued across our country. Just this year, from Buffalo to Uvalde to Highland Park, the carnage of gun violence has affected every community in America and made what should be the safest places in the country — grocery stores, elementary schools, Fourth of July parades — battlefields and graveyards. Even for those who survive without physical injuries, the mental toll is unimaginable for all except those who have experienced it themselves.

When a person is hit by bullets from an AR-15, their bodies explode. In Parkland, Uvalde, Highland Park and Las Vegas, first responders, doctors and survivors have shared the horror that they witnessed. That trauma for survivors reverberates in your mind and scares your soul forever. You can learn to manage it, but it never leaves you.

In the years since my own night of terror, I have made it my mission to pass meaningful gun safety measures to keep our families and communities safe. Since 2018, we have banned bump stocks like those used by the Oct. 1 shooter, enacted safe storage and passed a ban on untraceable ghost guns. But even with the victories we have achieved in Nevada, gun violence continues to grow because it is a national problem that requires national leadership.

Thankfully, President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and congressional leadership stepped up and enacted the first meaningful gun safety measure in nearly 30 years. This bipartisan bill funds crisis intervention, including red flag laws to keep guns out of the hands of people who are a danger to themselves and to others. It closes the “boyfriend loophole,” so people who assault their girlfriend or boyfriend can’t buy or own a gun. It requires people 21-and-under to undergo enhanced background checks. And it provides historic funding to address the youth mental health crisis in this country, especially the trauma experienced by survivors of gun violence.

With this meaningful action, Biden has proven that he is committed to working with gun violence survivors to keep our country and communities safe.

There is work still to be done, but Americans should know that for the first time in nearly two generations, we have finally taken a first national step to make our families safer.