Ten Democratic presidential candidates will participate in a gun safety forum next month in Las Vegas, organizers announced Thursday.
The forum, hosted by gun control advocacy groups March for Our Lives and Giffords, will be hosted by MSNBC’s Craig Melvin on Oct. 2, one day after the second anniversary of the deadly Route 91 Harvest music festival shooting in Las Vegas that killed 58 people.
{mosads}The 10 candidates who qualified for the September presidential debate will attend the event: former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.), South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro, Sen. Kamala Harris (Calif.), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (Texas), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and businessman Andrew Yang.
“Giffords and March for Our Lives are proud to collaborate with MSNBC on a landmark forum so that voters and viewers can hear directly from candidates about how they would address America’s gun violence crisis. Gun safety and the fight to save lives will be one of the defining issues of the race for president in 2020,” said Peter Ambler, executive director of Giffords.
“We are excited to announce that MSNBC will join both March For Our Lives and Giffords to broadcast live the 2020 Gun Safety Forum, so that presidential candidates can share what we hope are bold, ambitious, and comprehensive plans to address America’s gun violence crisis,” added Bria Smith, a board member for March for Our Lives.
Gun control has been thrust back into the national spotlight after a string of lethal mass shootings, with the deadliest occurring last month in El Paso, Texas, where a gunman killed 22 people.
Attorney General William Barr has been circulating a plan on Capitol Hill to expand background checks for gun purchases, but conservatives have signaled unease with the proposal. President Trump has yet to declare what he would personally support.