The two most common arguments made in defense of broad gun ownership are a) self protection and b) as a bulwark against tyranny.
1998 study in The Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery
“every time a gun in the home was used in a self-defense or legally justifiable shooting, there were four unintentional shootings, seven criminal assaults or homicides and 11 attempted or completed suicides.” That means a gun is 22 times more likely to be used in a criminal assault, an accidental death or injury, a suicide attempt or a homicide than it is for self-defense.
A 2003 study published in the journal Annals of Emergency Medicine, which examined gun ownership levels among thousands of murder and suicide victims and nonvictims, found that gun-owning households were 41 percent more likely to experience a homicide and 244 percent more like to experience a suicide.
.. If you think stock piling firearms from the local Guns and Guitars store, where the Las Vegas shooter purchased some of his many weapons, and dressing up in camouflage and body armor is going to protect you from an American military capable of delivering tanks and armored vehicles full Navy SEALs to your door, you’re delusional.
.. if you’re having trouble with the government, a lawyer is a much more potent weapon than a gun.
.. Politicians and police fear citizens armed with legal counsel more than they do a public fortified with guns.
.. A civil society based on the rule of law with a professional military to protect its citizens from external threats; a police force to protect civilians from internal dangers; a criminal justice system to peacefully settle disputes between the state and its citizenry; and a civil court system to enable individuals to resolve conflicts nonviolently — these institutions have been the primary drivers in the dramatic decline of violence over the past several centuries, not an increasingly well-armed public.
.. Homicide rates, for example, have plummeted a hundredfold since 14th-century England, in which there were 110 homicides per 100,000 people a year, compared with less than one per 100,000 today.
Why Gun Control Loses, and Why Las Vegas Might Change That
We do keep having a debate over guns in the United States; it’s just that the side that’s convinced that new regulations will prevent another Newtown or Orlando or Las Vegas keeps on losing the argument.
.. gun control is substantially less popular than it was in the 1990s — and gun rights is one of the few issues where the Republican Party is actually in touch with what many Americans seem to want.
.. Why is gun control losing? One answer is structural. Gun ownership is a form of expressive individualism no less than the liberties beloved in blue America, and it makes sense that a culture that rejects erotic limits would reject limits on self-defense as well. Especially since the appeal of gun ownership is also linked to individualism’s dark side — to distrust of your neighbor and your government, to the decay of communities and families, to a sense of being unprotected and on your own.
.. Anti-gun activists seize on the most horrifying acts of killing, understandably, and use them as calls to legislative action. But then the regulatory measures they propose, even when they poll well, often lack any direct connection to the massacres themselves.
.. If you go back through the list of recent mass atrocities, for instance, you don’t see many killers buying guns through the supposed “gun show loophole” or without a background check.
.. In a free society, madmen and monsters find a way to kill — as the killer in Vegas, a man of means and no significant criminal history, almost certainly would have even with tighter gun regulations and stiffer background checks.
Gunman’s Vantage Point and Preparations Opened the Way for Mass Slaughter
The possibility that Mr. Paddock used tripods, which two law enforcement officials said were in the room, indicates that he understood how to overcome some of the difficulties of his plan. Special mounts designed to fit the underside of a rifle and sit atop camera tripods allow the gunman to fire more accurately while standing. Military snipers use tripods in urban spaces, often setting themselves back from a window so neither they nor their weapons can be seen from the streets below.
.. When the gunshots started, videos showed, those in front of the stage dropped to their stomachs — often an adequate first measure when under fire. But on Sunday night, the decision potentially put them at greater risk.
.. at least 16 rifles, ranging from .308 to .223 caliber, and a handgun were retrieved
.. Ammonium nitrate was found in Mr. Paddock’s car in Las Vegas, the sheriff said, but he did not say how much was recovered.
.. Sustained rapid fire is difficult to control and causes many weapons, especially light weapons, to overheat quickly.
.. Nevada, unlike some states, has no laws limiting ammunition magazine capacities.
Las Vegas Shooting: Gunman’s Rifle Had ‘Bump Stock’ to Make It Rapid-Fire Weapon
.. issued a statement on Tuesday confirming that Mr. Paddock purchased “several” rifles and shotguns from the business last spring — all at the same time. It’s not uncommon for customers to do this to save money on background check fees, Mr. Famiglietti said.
.. “The firearms he purchased did not leave our store capable of what we’ve seen and heard in the video without modification,” he said. “They were not fully automatic firearms, nor were they modified in any way — legally or illegally — when they were purchased from us.”
.. Mr. Paddock seemed to be interested in competitive shooting, asking the clerk a lot of questions about three-gun shooting matches — an increasingly popular sport in which players use a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol.
.. Mr. Paddock worked for the federal government for roughly 10 years, from 1975 to 1985, a spokeswoman for the federal Office of Personnel Management confirmed on Tuesday. Investigators unearthed multiple job applications, with Mr. Paddock’s fingerprints on file, as part of records reflecting his employment as a letter carrier for the Postal Service; as an I.R.S. agent; and as an auditor of defense contracts.