The massive loss of life at the hands of a single shooter Sunday night in Las Vegas is a terrible tragedy, one, thankfully, that is unlikely to occur on this side of the border.
Stephen Paddock, 64, opened fire on a country music festival. Perched in his room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel, he had a bird’s eye view of the crowd. All he had to do was point and shoot.
Paddock had 10 guns in his possession in his hotel room, all apparently legally purchased in the area.
Listening to the gunshots caught on video from witnesses at the music festival is chilling. This is automatic weapons fire, and the magazines are huge, more in tune with light machine guns than assault rifles. The cascades of lead would cease as Paddock apparently reloaded. As soon as a few people started to move at the festival, it would begin again, lasting about 15 minutes.
By the end of it, upwards of 60 people had been killed and more than 500 injured.
It’s the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
In Canada, our worst lone-gunman lunacy took place on Dec. 6, 1989, when Marc Lepine, armed with a single semi-automatic rifle, shot 28 women at Ecole Polytechnique before killing himself.
What came out of the horrific incident in Montreal nearly 28 years ago was swift action by the federal government to put in place stricter gun control laws.
The regulations included required training for gun owners, screening of people applying for firearms acquisition permits, new rules concerning gun and ammunition storage, reductions in magazine sizes, and the implementation of the controversial firearms registry.
In Canada, a country already with much tougher gun laws than the U.S., the government took action quickly – nearly three decades ago.
But in the U.S., with the right to bear arms ensconced in the Constitution, people can own assault rifles, and large magazines.
Self-defence, the proponents say. But when you look at what people such as Stephen Paddock did with his arsenal, the reality is more like self-offence.
Paddock fired his guns so often that the gun smoke set off the smoke alarm in his room.
How much is too much in terms of gun ownership and type of gun owned in the U.S.? With Donald Trump in power, it will be very surprising to see much in the way of gun control addressed, even after such a massacre.
Thankfully, we in C-K and the rest of Canada live under much different gun laws, and are better protected against such tragedies.
But that didn’t help at least two Canadians who were in Vegas enjoying a night of music and revelry. They are among the dead.
