On Wednesday, a former business professor who repeatedly sought a position at UNLV and other higher education institutions in the state shot four people on three floors of the Lee Business School. The gunman, Anthony Polito, arrived on campus after first visiting a post office in nearby Henderson, where he sent 22 letters with no return address to various university personnel across the country. White powder found in some of the envelopes was determined to be harmless.
The three dead victims were all identified as university professors. A fourth victim, who remains hospitalized, was a visiting professor. Polito was later killed by police.
“I’m grateful to the law enforcement officers who risked their lives,” Biden said on Friday. “We join people across the country praying for the families of those killed whose hearts have been broken by yet another horrific gun violence.”
Biden added that the memory of the 2017 Las Vegas Strip shooting that left nearly 60 people dead is “still in the minds of so many people” in the city.
“Folks, we got to get smart. There have been over 600 mass shootings in America this year alone, plus daily acts of gun violence that don’t even make the national news. This is not normal and we can never let it become normal,” he added. “People have the right to feel safe — be safe.”
The nonprofit Gun Violence Archive defines “mass shooting” as a minimum of four victims either injured or killed, not including any shooter. By that count, more than 633 incidents have taken place this year.
The Washington Post uses the term “mass killing” to describe events in which four or more people died, not including the perpetrators. These violent episodes have occurred 39 times since the beginning of the year.
The president then called on Capitol Hill “to step up,” repeating his demand for Congress “to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, pass national red flag laws … require safe storage, [and] enact universal background checks and other common-sense measures to save lives.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said earlier in the day that the president’s meeting was expected to include UNLV President Keith Whitfield, as well as “public safety and student body representatives.”
In September, Biden established a new office for gun violence prevention, but progress toward gun violence prevention laws has largely stalled in Congress.
Biden delivered remarks in Las Vegas to celebrate a new major high-speed rail investment.
Brightline, the only private intercity passenger railroad in the country, is getting a $3 billion federal grant to help build a $12 billion high-speed railway between Las Vegas and Southern California — an almost unheard-of infusion of federal money for a private project that would help to put trains traveling at 186 mph on U.S. tracks by 2028.
Biden was also scheduled to travel to Los Angeles on Friday, to attend a campaign reception with first lady Jill Biden.
Luz Lazo contributed to this report.
