With no criminal record, Stephen Paddock, a 64 year old retiree opened fire at a Las Vegas music festival, unfolding late at night on October 1st and left 59 dead including 500 injured. Paddock later turned a gun on himself before law enforcement arrived. The event led thousands of scared concertgoers to flee for cover as Paddock continued to fire into the crowd of helpless civilians. The question of why Paddock would commit such an act is still unanswered.

At least 23 weapons including multiple rifles were found in Paddock’s hotel room. Authorities say Paddock legally bought all of the weapons found in his home along with in the high-rise luxury suit at which he was staying in before taking his own life.

Do events like this affect the way people in Weedsport think about gun control? Gun control is a very serious and controversial  topic in today’s society due to events such as these that continue to happen.

Weedsport sophomore Garrett Sevier explains that he wasn’t affected by the recent events in Vegas, but he does believe more gun control laws need to be placed in order to stop future events like this from occurring. “More things could’ve been done to stop it,” says Garrett, “I don’t understand how the hotel Paddock was staying in didn’t suspect anything while he was sneaking all 23 guns and weapons into his suite.”

Hotel staff had reportedly been in and out of the two-room suite, which Paddock checked into days before the shooting. An increase in support for stricter gun control laws is now more common than it ever was before Paddock fired earlier this month.

Although many of us at Weedsport aren’t directly affected by this tragedy we still need to join together to support and focus on those who are, and hope as a nation to prevent disasters like this from occurring.