Kilili on shootings: ‘We need to stop deaths’

Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) joined other Democratic Caucus members on the steps of the U.S. Capitol yesterday to mourn the victims of gun violence and demand action to prevent the daily tragedy of gun deaths across America. (Contributed Photo)

Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) grieves the lives lost in what is dubbed as the “deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history,” while calling for legislation to prevent a repeat.

Sablan, through a statement from his office, reportedly joined other Democratic Caucus members on the steps of the U.S. Capitol last Thursday to mourn the victims of gun violence and “demand action to prevent the daily tragedy of gun deaths across America.”

“Every time a mass shooting like this occurs we offer prayers and condolences; we lower the flag to half-mast; but we never seem to take action to try to prevent these killings from happening again,” said Sablan.

He added that the U.S. Congress should “enact commonsense legislation,” similar to the bipartisan King-Thompson legislation that strengthened background checks with the intent to keep guns out of the “wrong hands.”

According to Sablan, almost 12,000 people in the U.S. die from gun violence.

“It is an epidemic. We need to stop the deaths,” he said.

The U.S. just last Sunday evening experience its deadliest mass shooting to date at the Las Vegas strip, where the suspect, Stephen Paddock, opened fire with several military-grade assault rifles on a nearby crowd of about 22,000 concertgoers about 500 yards away.

Paddock took the lives of at least 59 people and injured 527.

Kilili unfazed by competition

Sablan also told Saipan Tribune that he remains unfazed after a member of the CNMI House of Representatives declared his intent to run for the CNMI delegate position in the upcoming 2018 general elections.

After asking for comments on Rep. Angel Demapan’s (R-Saipan) intent to run, Sablan said he trusts the people to “know who they can trust to put their interests first and to always work for them.”

Sablan cited several problems that would rather focus on instead of politics. These include the proposed military build up in the CNMI; keeping the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. open beyond 2019, the period when Obamacare funding runs out; making sure there are enough workers beyond 2019; extending the special food assistance program he got enacted to law; and renewing the asylum ban that makes Chinese tourism possible.

“There will be a time for politics,” said Sablan. “… But not now.”

“For now, I am using the experience I have gained over the last nine years, the trust I have built with Republicans and Democrats, in the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate, and my understanding of how to get legislation enacted in this very complicated institution, the U.S. Congress, for the good of the Marianas,” he said.