Las Vegas Massacre; Gun Control Laws

Last night’s horror brings a lot of things into question one of which is how gun control laws play into this massacre.

As was mentioned, 64 year old Stephen Paddock, from Mesquite, Nevada opened fire at a concert in las Vegas killing 59 people and injuring several hundred.

This is the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history. Nevada, the state in which it took place has some of the most relaxed gun laws in the country. Paddock would not have been breaking any laws by openly carrying a gun as ‘open carry’ is permitted in the state. There were 19* different types of weapons found in his hotel room. According to officials without a permit, and without registering them with the state and or holding a state-issued gun license. None of which are required for owners in the state of Arizona. We spoke with Lori Franklin of YPD, to get details on gun control laws in Arizona as they are very similar.

“In the state of Arizona, yes they do have concealed carry permits, but you can conceal carry without a permit. The majority of places, you have to go through the typical background check. You buy your handgun through someone with an FFL ” federal firearms license” to make sure that all the checks and balances are there. So I mean, yeah our laws are more relaxed than other states.”

Franklin adds that places such as school grounds and federal government building are the few places that one is not allowed to carry in the state of Arizona and with a tragedy like this people from all over the U.S. wonder if having stricter guns laws would have prevented this from happening.

As of now we can only lend our support to the victims and those affected. For more information on gun control laws, you can head to our website at www.nraila.org/gun-laws.