Late Sunday night, a gunman stationed in a hotel opened fire on a crowd of thousands of festivalgoers in Las Vegas. There are 59 confirmed deaths so far with over 500 injured, making it the deadliest shooting in modern American history.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the shooting began during country musician Jason Aldean’s performance at the Route 91 Harvest festival, with gunshots coming from a hotel room on the 32nd floor of Mandalay Bay.
The gunman was identified as Stephen Paddock, 64. Paddock was found dead by police in his hotel room after the shootings with at least 10 other weapons. Las Vegas Police have said they believe the shooting was planned, but the investigation is still in progress.
Students across campus gave their thoughts on the shooting.
“Something like this was almost inevitable,” Danica Smith, sophomore in history and chemistry, said.
Although this shooting was not done with handguns, having handguns on campus has raised some students’ concerns. The concealed carry law was amended on July 1, 2017, to allow people to carry concealed weapons without a permit.
The Gun Violence Archive defines a mass shooting as four or more people shot and/or killed in a single event. Its database states that 483 mass shootings happened in 2016. So far in 2017, 273 mass shootings have taken place.
“I don’t think my neutral stance on concealed carry had changed after this event,” Smith said.
According to Kansas State University’s weapons policy, “open carry of firearms and possession of weapons other than concealed handguns shall be prohibited on campus, while concealed carry of handguns is permitted on campus.”
Some students said they felt intimidated by firearms on campus, while others said they felt safer.
“I am against concealed carry,” Margot Decker, freshman in management, said. “I wouldn’t carry myself.”
Ben Kufahl, freshman in construction science, said he is in support of higher standards for concealed carry.
“I feel better now that there is open concealed carry of handguns on campus,” Kufahl said. “I think that there should be restrictions on who gets to conceal and carry. Classes, licensure and background checks should be ran on those wanting [to] carry.”
