What it means for the community to continue being #Vegasstrong

Las Vegas is a city of heroes and survivors. Founded as tiny oasis for people traveling one of the harshest and most unforgiving deserts in the world, glitter gulch has always stood as a testament to the strength and resilience of its people, who come from around the world for the promise of the city of second chances.

Never has that strength or resilience been more on display than six years ago, when gunfire erupted from the 32nd floor of Mandalay Bay and tens of thousands of people in our community became victims and survivors of the violent trauma inflicted by a madman armed with weapons of war.

As tragedy unfolded before our eyes, we shared a deep emotional pain. But we also declared to the world that we would not back down and would not surrender to the violence, fear and pain inflicted upon us that night. Instead, we looked deep inside ourselves and discovered heroes living within our own communities. That night, we declared to the world that we would survive and stand strong. #Vegasstrong.

Many of those heroes still call Las Vegas home, and they are all around us, waiting to come to our rescue once again.

They are hotel, restaurant and casino workers who helped people find shelter in the chaos and carnage; taxi and rideshare drivers who transported wounded victims to the hospital and safely delivered others home to worried loved ones; other concertgoers and people from across town who raced on their own to carry victims to emergency rooms in pickups and private vehicles; first responders threw themselves into the line of fire to protect others, provide first aid to the victims, and bring order to chaos; and doctors, nurses and hospital workers who refused to go home until they had saved as many lives as possible. And we should never forget the Las Vegans, by the hundreds, who lined up as early as 3 a.m. to donate much-needed blood. All heroes, all #Vegasstrong.

They are also the spouses, relatives and loved ones who faced the abject terror of not knowing whether the people they cared for were safe as the attack played out. These are the same heroes who in the six years since the massacre have been on the front lines of helping their loved ones on the journey of healing, both physically and mentally, from an unimaginable trauma. They too are #Vegasstrong.

Even those who didn’t see the tragedy first- or secondhand had to learn to act heroically and be strong as they navigate the pain of knowing that their friends, neighbors, coworkers and classmates may have lost someone that night and contend with the pain, sadness and terror of knowing that the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history happened in their own backyard.

They are all heroes and they are all #Vegasstrong.

In other words, Vegas remains a city filled with heroes and survivors, all of whom have displayed tremendous strength in the face of tragedy but all of whom are also in the process of healing.

But our strength is only as powerful as our ability to unite in love, support one another and protect others from becoming victims of the same tragedies in the future.

In the aftermath of the massacre, as the chaos subsided and the pain set in, we recognized that neighbors needed neighbors more than ever. Six years later, we cannot escape the reality that we still do. Our unity matters because it is the source of our strength.

But it is not just the love and support and kindness of our neighbors that we need. We also need the united and collective strength of Las Vegas to prevent such tragedies from happening again in the future.

Heroes are all around us, but our children should not be forced to rely on the heroic actions of a friend, neighbor, family member or stranger to protect them from violence like we experienced six years ago. We not only have the strength and power to survive mass violence but to take action that will prevent it from happening in the first place.

To do so, we need only implement basic, reasonable and commonsense gun reforms like bans on bump stocks, assault rifles and high-capacity magazines. We have already shown that such legislation is possible. From 19942004, an assault weapons ban was in place in the United States that significantly reduced the number of crimes involving assault weapons. Such bans might inconvenience sport shooters and other people who enjoy firearms and intend to use these technologies legally, but are we really ready to say that the inconvenience to a few sport shooters outweighs the trauma we experienced six years ago?

Are we really ready to tell our children that we were strong enough to survive the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history but not strong enough to demand the changes that could prevent it from happening again in the future?

We didn’t choose to endure the pain we’ve experienced in the past six years. But we can do our part to ease it. And in so doing, we can be a model for the country of what courage, resilience, support, love and action look like when you’re #Vegasstrong.

Heroes are all around us, but our children should not be forced to rely on the heroic actions of a friend, neighbor, family member or stranger to protect them from violence like we experienced six years ago.