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The senseless attack on innocent concertgoers in Las Vegas on Sunday has the nation in a state of frustrated mourning this week as people take to social media to try and make sense of such an act.
The mass shooting, which left 59 people dead and hundreds injured, has reignited the gun debate and numerous celebrities and politicians almost immediately called for tighter gun control laws, yet they offer very little in the way of an actual explanation of how they would help prevent people, intent on destroying themselves, from committing such heinous acts.
According to this story from marketwatch.com, two survivors of the Las Vegas shooting have come out to say they continue to support the Second Amendment and that gun control isn't the answer.
Rusty Dees and Caren Mansholt were in the Harvest Festival crowd as the gunman opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay tower Sunday night. Tuesday they were guests on BBC Radio 4’s Today program.
"If you can find a gun law that would prevent this from happening, I could sign up today, but I am proud of our country's Second Amendment rights, and I'm glad we are allowed to defend ourselves," Dees said.
“The biggest problem for me and for many was that we didn’t hear anybody returning fire. I’m very concerned that we had no one outside to protect us,” he added.
Mansholt said in the interview, "I do believe there is a time and a place for gun ownership. I believe that we have the right to protect ourselves as needed."
This piece from FoxNews.com brings up the point that Europe has extremely tight gun control laws with most countries banning most civilian gun ownership, however, the continent has seen a regular stream of mass shootings.
“Within hours of the horrible attack in Las Vegas, before we knew most of the relevant facts about the tragedy, gun control advocates were calling for more gun control. Here is something I would like those advocates to consider: Europe, which has all the gun controls that are being pushed in the aftermath of the Las Vegas carnage, has actually suffered more bloodshed from these types of attacks than the U.S.” “You heard that right: Countries such as France may have made all semi-automatic guns illegal, but that hasn’t stopped killers from getting fully automatic machine guns to use in mass shooting attacks. All four of the 2015 mass public shooting in France involved machine guns, including the 130 people killed in November of that year in multiple attacks including one at a concert venue.”
“In the 1970s, 80s and 90s, Europe saw machine gun attacks in airports and nightclubs by groups such as Black September and the Red Army Faction. In fact, machine guns are commonly used in mass shootings in the rest of the world.”
“This has not been the case here in the U.S. In fact, Sunday’s attack on a country music festival in Las Vegas – that left at least 58 people dead and more than 500 wounded – may be the first mass public shooting in the U.S. involving a machine gun, if it turns out the killer did use such a weapon. According to a Wall Street Journal report, the gunman, 64-year-old Stephen Paddock, is believed to have used at least one fully automatic weapon – weapons that are heavily restricted under U.S. federal law.”
Again, it must be stated that there are many facts about the incident that have yet to come to light.
President Trump addressed the nation on Monday, and was criticized by some for not mentioning gun control. Later, the White House stated that the direct aftermath of such a tragedy is not the time to discuss gun control policies and highlighted the strict gun control laws in place in Chicago, which has seen a staggering number of shootings in recent years.
