As investigators searched for clues about what drove 64yearold nevada resident Stephen Paddock to carry out the worst massacres in modern u. S. History by single shooter. His father, Patrick Benjamin paddock, was a violent bank list, on the fbi top 10 who the fbi said wasas psychopathic, arms, and very dangerouous. Since nevada i is a class three state,e, a person can legallylyn a. A. We w will go t to las vegas to k with Elizabeth Becker of moms demand action for gun sense. And Republican Leaders call for National Mourning and prayer, even as lawmakers advanced a bill to remove longstanding restrictions on silencers. Theres a commonplace for political debate, but now is the time to unite as a country. Theres currently an open and ongoing lawenforcement investigation. A motive is yet to be determined. It would be premature for us to discuss policy that we dont fully know a all of the e factsr what tookk plalace last ninight. Amy and w we will looook at ths government pushshing gun sales abroad. Then the puerto rico, where President Trump is set to visit for the first time nearly two weeks after Hurricane Maria devastated the island. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. In las vegas, the toll in sunday nights mass shooting rose to 59 dead and 527 wounded, as investigators searched for clues about what drove 64yearold nevada resident Stephen Paddock to carry out the worst massacre in modern u. S. History. Police say they found paddock dead of a selfinflicted gunshot wound shortly before midnight sunday after they used an explosive to break into his suite on the 32nd floor of the mandalay bay hotel, where he was holed up with an arsenal of guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition. Paddock lived in a Retirement Community in mesquite, nevada. He previously worked as an accountant, a property manager, and spent three years working at a Weapons Company that was later acquired by Lockheed Martin. Neighbors described paddock as a recluse who spent long hours playing video poker. Stephen paddocks father, Benjamin Hoskins paddock, was once on the fbis most wanted list after he escaped from a federal prison in the 1960s after a conviction on serial bank robbery charges. At the time, the fbi said benjamin paddock reportedly had suicidal tendencies should be considered armed and very dangerous. They said he was psychopathic. On monday, steven paddocks brother, eric paddock, told reporters monday the massacre was a complete surprise to the family. Just nothing. He did stuff. He would to college. He had a job. Owned some apartments. We sold some apartments. There is nothing. Amy police say his girlfriend, marilou danley, has been could of any involvement. Haddock reportedly used a hammer to smash a pair of windows and set up two highpowered drop goals with scopes on tripods overlooking route 91 Harvest CountryMusic Festival below where he fired into a crowd of 20,000 concertgoers. Haddock had at least 23 firearms in his hotel suite and 19 guns were later fouound at his home, along with explosives and thousands of rounds of ammuninition. Paddock k had no criminal record and was able to purchase his arsenal legally. Gun experts believe hehe may hae used a trigger device available for pupurchase onlnlie for as little as 40 that can turn a semiautomatic Assault Rifle into a fulully automatic machine gugun. At the white house, press secretary Sarah Huckabee sanders said it was not the time to talk about gun control. There is a time and place for a political debate, but now is the time to unite as a country will stop there is currently an open and ongoing Law Enforcement investigation. A motive is yet to be determined and it would be premature for us to discuss policy when we dont fully know all of the facts orr what took place last night. Amy on twitter, journalist naomi klein responded dont talk about guns after a massacre. Or Climate Change after storms. Or austerity after firetrap buildings burn. Talk when no one listens. On capitol hill, Republican Leaders called the massacre a moment for National Mourning and prayer, even as lawmakers advanced a pair of bills that would liberalize gun laws. One measure that could pass the house as early as this week would remove longstanding restrictions on silencers. [gunfire] amy the bill to allow silencers comes despite the fact that concertgoers at sunday nights Music Festival were alerted to the massacre by the sound of gunfire emerging from the Highrise Hotel above them. Another bill expected to move through congress this fall would allow pepeople to lawfully carry concealed weapons across state lines into jurisdictions that dont allow them. Speaking for the senate floor, connecticut democratic senator chris murphy condemned congresss failure to tackle gun control after the sandy y hook school m massacre in 2012,2, in which a shooteter with a an asst rifle killlled 20 younung schoolchildrenen and six adultln newtown, connecticut. The hurt is deep. The scars are white and newtown, but they are made wider by the fact is body in 4. 5 years has done absolutely nothing to reduce the likelihood of another mass shooting. Indeed, because we have done nothing, the mass s shootings cocontinue. Amy after headldlines, well go to l las vegas for t the latestn sundayay nights ssacre. President trump travels to puerto rico today, some two weekeks after huhurricane mamara devavastated thehe island, destroying itsts electricacal gd and leaving than half of puerto riricos s 3. 5 millioion resides wiwith no accecess to cleaean w. Fofood and fuel continueue to bn short susupply, and the federarl commununications c commission ss nearly 90 of cell phone towers remain out of service. Trumps visit comes just two days after he called puerto rican leaders whove criticized his hurricane response portal grilli politically motivated ingrates and said Puerto Ricans want everything done for them. Later in the broadcast, well go to san juan for an update on a protest agagainst trumps visit and the latest on Hurricane Maria relief efforts. The Supreme Court opened a new term monday, hearing arguments in a case that could expand the rights of millions of workers to sue their employers. The case, nlrb v. Murphy oil, pits workers who want the right to join class action lawsuits against employersbacked by the Trump Administration who want to force workers to enter into binding arbitration agreements that prohibit collective litigation. The Economic Policy institute says more than half of all nonunion u. S. Workers are currently forced to work under mandatory arbitration rules. Politico is reporting that white house advisers Jared Kushner and ivanka trump sent hundreds of emails from a previously undisclosed private email account, including official white house business. Its the third such disclosure of a private email account linked to the kushner family, and it comes after cnn reported kushner failed to inform Senate Investigators about his use of private e email servers dudurina closededdoor inquiry last july with senatate Intelligence Committee staff. In y yemen, the International Committee of thehe red cross was a massive cholera epidemic shows no signs of stopping, and that the countrys tattered health and Sanitation Systems could pave the wayay for the spread df otother diseases. This is alalexandre faite,e, hef ththe icrc delegegation in yeme. The situation from a humanitarian standpoint is a catastrophe. We have something which is close to one million cases of suspected cholera, maybe by the end of the year. But this is, as i told you, is only d does an externanal illustration of something more serious. Amy the ongoing u. S. Backed, saudiled Bombing Campaign hasas destroyed yemens hehealth, watr and sanitationon systems, with e u. N. Warning less than half of yemens Health Facilities are opererational. In syryria, a pair of suicide bombers struck a Police Station in damascus monday, killing 11 people and wounding 20 others. There was no claim off respononsibilityty for the atta, whicich was the largrgest to rok the capital city since a car bomb attack killed 20 people in july. In kenyas capital nairobi, police fired tear gas monday to cash at protesters blockading roads and burning tires, as Opposition Leader raila odinga demanded the government fire electoral officials and bar the ruling party from changing voting laws. The protests come after kenyas Supreme Court invalidated augusts president ial ballot, citing irregularities in president uhuru kenyattas reelection victory. A new election is scheduled for october 26. In spains catalonia region, proindependence groups have called a general strike today after police raided polling stations and beat protesters and prospective voters sunday during an outlawed independence referendum. The violence injured more than 800 people and led to mass protests monday outside Police Stations across the region. Spain has called the referendum illegal and illegitimate. And on monday, the European Commission agreed, saying if catalonia does become independent, it will be outside the eueuropean union. Back in the u. S. , and new york city judge threw out charges monday against the black lives matter protester in a case federal are from defense lawyers after the District Attorneys Office handed the case over to the new York City PoliceDepartment Legal bureau for prosecution. This is christina windsor, the activist acquitted on charges of Disorderly Conduct and walking in a roadway. Of beencovered instead prosecuted by the da, i was going to be prosecuted by the nypd legal bureau. So to me, that is a real conflict of interest because it should be separate. The nypd should arrest people, not arrest and prosecute people. My fear is that it would make people more and more afraid to put themselves out there and express themselves in the streets. Know, would be moving closer to what we would call a police state. Amy and rock and roll halloffamer tom petty has died at the age of 66. Petty rose to fame in the 1970s as leader of the heartbreakers. He is best known for hit songs, including i wont back down, american girl, and refugee. Petty grew up in gainesville, florida, and later spoke out against racism in the south. In 2015, he told Rolling Stone magazine he deeply regretted using Confederate Flag imagery onstage as part of his southern accents tour in 1985, calling the flflag a symbol of hate. Petty alsoso condemnmned the rif forprofit prisons and voiced support for the black lilives matter movement, saying whats going on in society is unforgivable. As a country, we should be more concerned with why the police are getting away with targeting black men and killing them for no reason. Tom petty, dead at 66. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Juan welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. We begin todays show in las vegas, where the toll in sunday nights mass shooting rose to 59 dead and 527 wounded as police searched for clues about what drove 64yearold nevada resident Stephen Paddock to carry out the worst mass murder in modern u. S. History. Police say they found paddock dead of a selfinflicted gunshot shortly before midnight sunday after they used an explosive to break into his suite on the 32nd floor of the mandalay bay hotel, where he was holed up with an arsenal of guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition. Paddock previously worked as an accountant, a property manager, and worked for three years at a Weapons Company that was later acquired by Lockheed Martin. Neighbors described him as a recluse who spent long hours playing video poker. Stephen paddocks brother eric , paddock, told reporters monday the massacre was a complete surprisese to the family. We are trying understand what happened. We have no more ideal what happened now than i had an hour ago. We are still just and clearly befuddled. The last time i communicated with my brother was abobout when it would get power back at go five days after the storm. He texted me and said, how is mom . I textxted him back. It had nothing to do with any Political Organization, religious organization,n, no whe supremacist, nothing as far as i know. I have only known him foror 57 years. Y your father was a banknk robber . Thats correct. We are all proud. My father was s on a top 10 list for r a while. Is them is bitumen paddock. I did not know him. We did not know him. Jail is no he was in and broken out of jail. Did he have a history . Parkingesnt even have tickets. Yes no record of any affiliations. He has nothing. What about Mental Illness . Absolutely not. As far as i know. Nothing like that. He was a wealthy guy and he liked to play video poker. He went on cruises. He said his mother cookokies. I mean, huge crazy boxes of cookies and stuff. Amamy thats steven paddocks brother, eric paddock. As he noted, their father Patrick Benjamin paddock was a bank robber, and an escaped federal prisoner who made the fbis most wanted list. An fbi poster from 1969 notes that the elder paddock had been diagnosed as psychopathic, has carried firearms in commission of Bank Robberies and reportedly has suicidal tendencies and should be considered armed and very dangerous. That is the father. Las vegas police say steven paddock used a hammer sunday night to smash a pair of windows and set up two highpowered rifles with scopes on tripods overlooking the route 91 Harvest CountryMusic Festival below, where more than 20,000 people were attending. Paddock had at least 23 firearms in his hotel suite, and 19 guns were found at his home in mesquite, nevada, along with explosives and thousands of rounds of ammunition. Paddock had no criminal record and was able to purchase his arsenal legally since nevada is a class three state, meaning an individual can legally own a machine gun. Nevada has some of the least restrictive gun laws in the country and does not require firearms owners to have licenses or register their weapons and does not limit the numbeber of firearms one can possess. Gun experts say paddock k may he used a trigger device available for Purchase Online for as little as 40 that can turn a semiautomatic Assault Rifle into a fully automatic machine gun. At the white house, press secretary Sarah Huckabee sanders said monday it was not the time to talk about gun control. There is a time and place for a political debate, but now is the time to unite as a country. There is currently an open and ongoing Law Enforcement investigation. To beve is yet determined. It would be premature to discuss policy will we dont fully know all of the facts or what took place last night. That was Sarah Huckabee sanders. On twitter, author naomi klein wrote dont talk about guns after a massacre. Or Climate Change after storms. Or austerity after firetrap buildings burn. Talk when no one listens. Meanwhile, a tweet by country guitarist lee tweeter, member of the josh abbott band, went viral after he tweeted his change of heart over gun control. His band performed at the route 91 Harvest Festival sunday afternoon, hours before the mass shooting around 10 p. M. Amy afterward, keeter posted a lengthy response to the attack, writing ive been a proponent of the 2nd amendment my entire life. Until the events of last night. I cannot express how wrong i was. We actually have members of our crew with, and legal firearms on the bus. They were useless. We couldnt touch them for fear police might think we were part of the massacre and shoot us. A small group where one man laid waste to a city with dedicated, fearless Police Officers desperately trying to help, because of access to an insane amount of fire power. Those were the words of caleb tweeter. For more, we go to las vegas where we are joined by elisabeth former head of the nevada chapter of moms demand action for gun sense in america. Our condolences for the four that has taken place in las vegas on the strip. Can you talk about your response and what you have been demand a . What the gun laws are in nevada . Tank you for having me. Ofe in nevada, we spent all 2016 getting a background check. Aw on every gun sale past the people voted for it. It a previously passed in our legislature.