Like clockwork, Sunday's deadly shooting in Las Vegas has drawn out a
fiery debate on gun control, just as many other mass shootings have done before
it.
Like clockwork, Sunday's deadly shooting in Las Vegas has drawn out a fiery debate on gun
control, just as many other mass shootings have done before it.
On Sunday night, 64-year-old Stephen Paddock opened fire on a crowd of 22,000 concert-goers from his suite on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel.
He killed at least 59 people before apparently turning one of his guns on himself, in what has since been named the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.
The enormity of Paddock's weapons arsenal, and the speed at which he was able to mow down dozens of festival attendees within minutes, has prompted questions over what types and how many firearms people should be allowed to purchase.
When police burst into Paddock's hotel room, they found a whopping 23 guns, including semiautomatic rifles. They later discovered another 19 firearms and several thousand rounds of ammunition at his home in Mesquite, Nevada.
It's still unclear exactly what types of weapons Paddock used, but video and audio of the shooting suggests his rifles had rapid-fire capabilities — possibly from "bump stock" devices that can be purchased legally and used to modify firearms into fully automatic weapons.
While many lawmakers and gun control advocates have demanded swift action on gun control measures, their opponents have fired back that such calls politicize the tragedy, and that gun legislation will not improve public safety.
As for the American public, their views are more nuanced. Here's what they think:
Spring 2017 surveys show 89% of Americans — including gun-owners and non-gun owners — tend to agree on one thing: the mentally ill should be prevented from purchasing guns.
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President Donald Trump in February repealed an Obama-era rule barring certain mentally ill people from purchasing guns.
(Reuters/George Frey)
Sources: Pew Research Center, NPR
The so-called "gun show loophole," through which people can purchase firearms without background checks through private sales and gun shows, is similarly non-controversial. Surveys show 84% of US adults — including 77% of gun owners and 87% of non-gun owners — believe the loophole should be closed.
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A gun show enables buyers to avoid the Brady Act.
(Associated Press)
Source: Pew Research Center
Another 83% of American adults believe people on the FBI's no-fly list should be blocked from buying guns. But civil liberties groups have decried previous attempts to push such legislation through Congress, arguing the no-fly list is arbitrary, frequently inaccurate, and discriminatory against Muslim-Americans.
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Critics have decried the FBI's terror watch list as a "Trump-style database of Muslims" that is comprised of people who have been neither charged nor convicted of crimes.
(Associated Press/Ted S. Warren)
Sources: Pew Research Center, Business Insider
The major disagreements begin when assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines come into play. Fewer than half of gun owners favor banning assault-style weapons, compared to 77% of non-gun owners, while those numbers are 44% to 74%, respectively, for banning high-capacity magazines.
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This is a custom-made, semi-automatic hunting rifle with a high-capacity detachable magazine.
(Associated Press/Rich Pedroncelli)
Source: Pew Research Center
The National Rifle Association's lobbying power is a similarly polarizing issue. Just 19% of US gun owners say they belong to the National Rifle Association — fewer than one-fifth of all the gun owners in the country.
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There's a lot of disagreement over the NRA's influence on gun legislation.
(Reuters/Brian Snyder)
Source: Pew Research Center
But 44% of American adults believe the NRA has too much influence over gun legislation. Meanwhile, 40% believe it has just the right amount of influence, and 15% believe it has too little.
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Gun control advocates and some Democratic lawmakers have seized on the NRA as the reason legislation hasn't been passed.
(Associated Press/David Goldman)
Source: Pew Research Center
Those beliefs appear split along party lines, even among gun owners themselves. Sixty percent of Democratic gun owners believe the NRA has too much influence, while 67% of Republican gun owners believe it has just the right amount of influence.
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Republican or conservative gun owners are twice as likely to belong to the NRA as their more liberal or Democratic counterparts.
(Associated Press/Evan Vucci)Gun ownership in America has actually been declining for years — yet gun sales are at historic highs.
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There are now roughly 300 million guns in America, according to the Congressional Research Service
(AP)
Sources: FBI, The Washington Post
This suggests that America's dwindling group of gun owners are stocking up on firearms more than ever. In fact, the average US gun owner possesses eight guns.
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For instance, Nancy Lanza, mother of the Sandy Hook shooter, owned multiple guns, kept them in a safe, and frequently took her sons to shooting ranges.
(Connecticut State Police via Getty Images)
Sources: The Washington Post, The New York Times
Just 30% of US adults say they currently own a gun.
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Roughly 48% of US gun owners are white men.
(Nicole Borrero/Task and Purpose)
Source: Pew Research Center
Among gun owners, 67% say protection is a major reason (as opposed to hunting, sport shooting, collecting, or job-related reasons).
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71% of female gun owners say they purchased their guns for protection.
(Associated Press/Lisa Marie Pane)
Source: Pew Research Center
Nearly three-quarters of gun owners believe owning a gun is essential to their personal freedom.
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Just 35% of non-gun owners view gun ownership as essential to personal freedom.
(Whitney Curtis/Getty Images)
Source: Pew Research Center
In general, 55% of Americans want gun laws to be more strict, 10% say they should be less strict, and 34% want to keep them as they are now. It remains to be seen if those numbers will go up after the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.
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Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock had 42 guns in his hotel room and home, many of them legally obtained assault rifles.
(Getty/David Becker/Business Insider)
Source: Gallup
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