More than 20 dead; shooting on Vegas strip

The Islamic State militant group (ISIS) has published a new infographic detailing how the jihadists orchestrated the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history on Sunday night, despite serious doubts as to the group's involvement by authorities.


In the latest edition of ISIS's weekly Al-Naba online magazine, which was shared by its supporters Thursday on encrypted messaging app Telegram, the militant network provided more information intended to bolster its prior claims that assailant Stephen Paddock converted to Islam prior to killing 58 people and injuring hundreds more, when he opened fire on concertgoers from his 32nd floor room in the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas with nearly two dozen weapons.

Their proposals would do nothing to stop mass shootings.

But what, pray tell, is the “action” that will end mass shootings? Here Powers comes up empty. She refers to other countries, but the only concrete proposals she offers (“requiring criminal background checks at gun shows and on Internet sales”) not only would not have stopped the Las Vegas shooting — as she admits — they’re also misleading. As has been explained a million times, the so-called gun-show loophole applies only to private sales between citizens of the same state, not to all gun-show sales or to all Internet sales. If you buy a gun from a licensed dealer, the dealer is required by law to make sure that you’re legally eligible to buy that gun, no matter where you buy it.

Powers isn’t the only gun-control advocate to come up empty on the vital question of how to end mass shootings. During his presidential campaign, Senator Marco Rubio made waves when he declared, “None of the major shootings that have occurred in this country over the last few months or years that have outraged us — would gun laws have prevented them.” After an outcry, the Washington Post fact-checked his claim, and — lo and behold — determined that he was right. It analyzed each recent mass shooting and found that shooters either gained their weapons legally (under laws that would not change) or defied existing laws.

there are a host of ways to dramatically decrease gun violence while still protecting the Second Amendment. How do we know? We’ve been doing it for a quarter-century. At the same time that legislatures across the country have been loosening gun laws, Americans have purchased an unprecedented number of guns, and millions of citizens have obtained concealed-carry permits — and violent crime has plunged.

It’s too simplistic to say that increased gun ownership is responsible for this decline in crime (though there’s research claiming that it played a part), but the undeniable fact that American gun violence declined even while Americans bought millions more guns shows that there are multiple ways to combat gun violence.