House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, pictured during a September sit-down with POLITICO, said in an interview set to air on Fox News Tuesday evening that calls for legislative action on guns were premature. | John Shinkle/POLITICO Scalise warns against 'political agenda' in Las Vegas shooting response

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, who is still recovering after being shot during a Republican congressional baseball practice in June, pushed back Tuesday against Democratic calls for increased gun regulation in the wake of the deadly Las Vegas shooting.

“You’ve got to recognize that when there’s a tragedy like this, the first thing we should be thinking about is praying for the people who were injured and doing whatever we can to help them, to help law enforcement,” Scalise said, according to early transcripts of an interview set to air Tuesday evening on Fox News.


Democrats in the House and Senate have ratcheted up demands that congressional Republicans take on legislation to expand background checks after a gunman fired on thousands of concertgoers in Las Vegas on Sunday night, leaving at least 59 dead and more than 500 injured — the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

But Scalise, fresh off his Capitol Hill return after spending the past several months recovering from a gunshot to the hip, said calls for legislative action were premature.

“We shouldn’t first be thinking of promoting our political agenda,” the Louisiana Republican said.

Scalise’s comments aligned with those of other Republican lawmakers and White House officials, who have urged patience in the face of Sunday’s shooting — echoing a common refrain from GOP leaders in response to mass shootings in recent years.

Sign up here for POLITICO Huddle A daily play-by-play of congressional news in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Democratic congressional leaders have continued to ramp up their calls for action, however. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia said during a closed-door meeting at the Capitol on Tuesday that he was “sick and tired of a few moments of silence on the House floor.”

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Monday urged House Speaker Paul Ryan to take stalled legislation expanding background checks for gun buyers to a vote.

Scalise on Tuesday questioned whether the measures proposed by Democrats would actually serve to prevent shootings like the one in Las Vegas, highlighting that Nevada gun shops have said the gunman passed all required background checks when he purchased firearms from their stores over the past year.

Passing measures to combat mental illness, Scalise said, may be a more effective tool in minimizing gun violence. Still he said it wasn't clear that doing so could have prevented the massacre in Las Vegas.

The Louisiana politician — thrust into a battle for his life after a gunman targeted him and other Republican lawmakers during a practice baseball match in Alexandria, Va., this summer — also addressed how he felt after hearing of Sunday's deadly shooting.

"The first thing I think of is to pray for those people that are still fighting for their lives in the hospitals in Las Vegas," he said. "And you can imagine what, you know, hundreds of people that were shot, with dozens that have already died, there's still some people fighting for their lives and we ought to pray for them."

Asked whether his experience changed his views on the Second Amendment, Scalise said it "fortified" his beliefs.

Scalise on Fox encouraged people to donate blood in support of those recovering in Las Vegas, a message he also shared during his first House Republican news conference since returning on Tuesday.