Survivors of the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas and families who received somber calls from police hours later said they were alarmed when the U.S. Supreme Court Friday struck down a ban on the gun attachment used by the shooter who rattled off over 1,000 bullets into a crowd of thousands in 11 minutes.
“I’m pro-gun, but I don’t believe anyone should have an automatic weapon in a civilized world. It’s a bomb waiting to go off,” said Craig Link, whose brother, Victor Link, was standing next to the “love of his life” when the first barrage of shots rang out, one striking him in the head. “I can’t help but think over and over again, he and I might’ve been going to get a beer when that happened, or it might’ve been me instead of him,” he said.Supreme Court strikes down Trump-era ban on rapid-fire rifle bump stocks, reopening political fightShawna Bartlett, 49, was in the front row when bullets began hailing down. Her friend was struck in the back. Amid ricocheting bullets and the screams of thousands of people, Bartlett helped load her friend into an ambulance, and she survived.
She said she struggled for years to deal with the trauma of the shooting, but things have felt much better in recent years and she makes a point of not taking life for granted.The majority opinion written by Justice Clarence Thomas found the Justice Department had been wrong to declare that bump stocks transformed semiautomatic rifles into illegal machine guns because, he said, they don’t “alter the basic mechanics of firing.