WATCH: Dem calls for gun background check vote by end of week

by Molly K. Hooper - 10/02/17 4:39 PM ET

A Democratic lawmaker in the House wants bipartisan backing to move a universal background check bill by the end of the week in response to the deadly gun massacre in Las Vegas.

“We don’t have to live like this,” freshman Maryland Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin told reporters shortly following an appearance at a Capitol Hill news conference Monday afternoon.

“Let’s come together across party lines and pass the universal background checks — this week!” he said, moments after former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and husband Mark Kelly departed the front of the Capitol where they participated in a press conference to decry the Las Vegas attacks and call for stricter gun laws.

Giffords was shot in the head and nearly killed six years ago at a public meeting with constituents in her Tucson district.

For his part, Raskin “hopes” President Donald Trump will change his current position on gun rights, given that the president is endorsed by the National Rifle Association.

“I know that over the course of his career he’s been on many different sides of the gun violence issue. I know that he has sometimes reacted the way the vast majority of us have reacted which is with absolute consternation about this kind of gun violence, and I hope he comes back to that,” Raskin said.

Watch the video above to hear Raskin in his own words.

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