Las Vegas shooting survivors alarmed as U.S. Supreme Court overturns gun stock ban

JESSE BEDYAN and SCOTT SONNER, Associated Press

12 minutes ago

FILE – A bump stock is attached to a semi-automatic rifle at the Gun Vault in South Jordan, Utah, Oct. 4, 2017. The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday, June 14, 2024, overturned the ban on rapid fire. Rifle stock used by the shooter who fired more than 1,000 rounds in 11 minutes in Las Vegas in 2017. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

Survivors of the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas and their families who received somber calls hours later said they were alarmed when the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday overturned a ban on the gun used by the shooter who fired more than 1,000 rounds in 11 minutes.

The Trump-era ban on Bump Stocks, a rapid-fire accessory that allows a rate of fire comparable to that of machine guns, was rejected by a 6-3 majority. Justice Clarence Thomas, author of the opinion, wrote that the Justice Department was wrong to state that semi-automatic rifles turned semi-automatic rifles into illegal machine guns because they did not “alter the basic mechanics of shooting.”

The ruling did not directly address the Second Amendment, and Justice Samuel Alito agreed with Thomas but wrote a separate short opinion to emphasize that Congress can change the law.

“I am pro-gun, but I do not believe that anyone should own an automatic weapon in a civilized world. “It’s a bomb waiting to go off,” said Craig Link, whose brother, Victor Link, was shot in the head in the first barrage of gunfire. Victor Link, 55, died shortly after.

Link said the two were like twins, although: “I've never met anyone who didn't love Victor. I met people who didn’t like me,” he says, laughing, then bursting out. Link was supposed to be at the concert with his brother, a fact that has been on his mind ever since.

“I can't help but think over and over, maybe he and I were going for a beer when this happened, or it could have been me instead of him,” he said.

The gunman shot up an outdoor country music festival on the Las Vegas Strip, killing 58 people and injuring more than 850 among the crowd of 22,000.

Shawna Bartlett, 49, was in the front row when the bullets started falling and her friend was hit in the back. Amid ricocheting bullets and screams, Bartlett helped load her friend into an ambulance and she survived.

“I’m not telling you you can’t get a gun,” Bartlett said, but “why does anyone need a bump stock?” Why does it have to be legal? People don’t use them for hunting or law enforcement,” Bartlett said.

She said she struggled for years to cope with the trauma of the shooting, but things felt much better in recent years.

“I have come very far in my healing process,” she said. “I can talk about it now without crying.”

Danette Meyers, who became a spokesperson for her good friends, the family of Christiana Duarte, who was murdered at the concert, said she feared that even if Congress acted, it would take time.

“It's definitely going to give someone the opportunity to buy one of these things and create another mass shooting,” Meyers said.

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Sonner reported from Reno, Nevada. Associated Press writer Jim Salter contributed to this report from St. Louis.

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Bedayn is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-reported issues.