COLONIE — U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand urged voters to hold their representatives in Congress accountable if they refuse — yet again — to pass what she calls "common-sense" gun reforms after the deadliest mass shooting in American history.

The massacre that left at least 58 people dead and more than 500 wounded at a country music concert in Las Vegas is a "disturbing and painful example" of a Congress that's "too weak and too cowardly" to stand up to the gun industry, the Democratic representative from New York said at an event Monday in Colonie to promote vocational education.

"There's so many things we could work on," she said. "We could work on banning assault weapons. We could work on making sure we have better background checks. We could work on ending the trafficking of guns into states like ours from states that don't have good gun laws. We should do these kinds of bipartisan things together. But doing nothing is unacceptable."

Gillibrand took time at the beginning of a news conference at Colonie Central High School, where she showed up to announce bipartisan legislation that would promote "makerspace" labs and vocational training in high schools, to address the news that many students and teachers woke up to Monday morning.

"Mass shootings get all the news, but every single day in our state gun violence on a much smaller scale is destroying more families, and more and more lives," she said. "We must take gun violence as seriously as we take the threat of terrorism, wherever it's happening."

The senator also slammed her colleagues in the House who are currently considering legislation that would make it easier to buy gun silencers. Supporters of the legislation say silencers will help protect the hearing of hunters and recreational shooters, while opponents say they would make it harder for law enforcement to detect gun crimes and violence.

"They're doing it because it's a value-add market item," she said. The firearms industry "can just make more money. And (Congress) has to begin to say it's not right. It's not right. Making money at all costs is not what this country's about. It's not capitalism. It's greed."

Gillibrand is a close friend of former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the former Arizona Democratic congresswoman who suffered grievous neurological injuries after being wounded in a January 2011 shooting that left six people dead and 19 wounded by gunfire.

Giffords issued a similar statement Monday in the aftermath of the Las Vegas killings.

"I am praying for the victims of this shooting, their families and friends," she said. "But I am praying for my former colleagues, too. I am praying they find the courage it will take to make progress on the challenging issue of gun violence. I know they got into politics for the same reason I did — to make a difference, to get things done.

"Now is the time to take positive action to keep America safer," Giffords said. "Do not wait. The nation is counting on you."