The College Republicans club at the University discussed the topics of gun control and the Las Vegas shooting at their last two meetings. Their most recent meeting was last Thursday, Oct. 19, where they shared their opinions about both issues.

    David Jenkins, junior, led most of the discussion with a slide show. Regarding the Las Vegas shooting, Jenkins asked the group what their initial reaction was when they heard this tragedy had taken place.

    Shaun Sager, sophomore, said he was shocked at the sheer number of injuries. Sager also said it took him a few days to piece together what had happened.  

    Jenkins said in response, even now, we don’t know what the shooter’s motive was and we may never know.

    Jenkins asked the group a second question: Are tragedies like the Las Vegas shooting a symptom of a deranged society or just a result of a few deranged individuals’ actions? Jenkins said he believes it is a combination of the two.

    “It starts out with individuals, but builds into a society and culture that more and more loses its morals and ability to deal with problems facing us,” Jenkins said.

    Sager said people who place the blame for mass shootings — like in Las Vegas — on the guns and not individuals are at serious fault. He said people are committing mass killings with cars, bombs and other means — not just with guns.

    Sager also said that mass shootings’ influence on society seems to lead to more mass shootings. Because of this, he said mass shootings are definitely a societal issue.

    Concerning media influence, Jenkins said the media is very powerful, and biased media can be very destructive in a society. He said, when it is unbiased, the press is invaluable, but it can also be used to wrongly influence people.

    Sager said, “anytime there’s a big episode, there is always this immediate clashing of sides.”

    He said, because of this, the media will very quickly turn to politics once the facts have been covered.  While 20 years ago, the tragedy would be the main focus of the media’s attention, the media now seems to discuss politics more often than reporting the facts.

    The group then went on to discuss the current state of gun control, and any modifications that they feel are needed to make it more effective. Jenkins and Sager both argued the semi-automatic rifle should not be banned. Semi-automatic rifles are firearms that fire a single bullet each time the trigger is pulled.

    Semi-automatic rifles can be modified to simulate the firing ability of fully automatic weapon using a device called a bump stock.  This device was used by Steve Paddock, the shooter in the Las Vegas shooting.

    Sager said, “Certain things need to be illegalized because they’re unnecessary. It’s hard to justify someone owning a machine gun. The risks are greater than what it is meant to do.”

    The group came to a rough consensus that bump stocks are unnecessary and dangerous, and this outlook seems to be the growing trend throughout the U.S.  Ohio Governor John Kasich recently voiced his support in banning bump stocks.

    They also agreed that people purchasing firearms should undergo mental health background checks to hopefully stop guns from getting into the hands of the wrong people.

    Additionally, Jenkins said the U.S. should learn how to implement gun control by studying gun control laws in other countries.  In some countries, gun laws have been very effective.

    Stefanie Delrosso, freshman, spent six years of her life in Germany before enrolling at the University.  Her initial reaction to the Las Vegas shooting was sadness because of the sheer number of affected people.  The most extreme firearm-related crime that occurred while she was in Germany was at a German movie theater.  The attacker was shot dead by the police, and there were no other casualties.

    Firearm regulations are much more extreme in Germany than in the U.S.  Delrosso said firearms are much more “talked about” here in the U.S. than in Germany.

    “I’ve never met anybody in Germany that has just come up and said ‘Yeah, my parents own a gun.’ But here I’ve heard tons of people say that.”

    Delrosso said this might be because there is much less gun violence in Germany, so it is not a common topic of conversation.