In fact, the more closely one looks at what passes for "common sense" gun laws, the more feckless they appear.

As for Congress, we now live in a political climate where an ObamaCare repeal can't get 60 votes in the Senate - despite the fact that most of the country despises ObamaCare and Republicans have voted to repeal it dozens of times in the past.

Las Vegas Sheriff Joseph Lombardo gives out details on the mass shooting in on the Las Vegas Strip.

"The president is clear that he's been a strong supporter of the Second Amendment", press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said from the White House when discussing the mass shooting in Las Vegas, the worst in U.S. history.

According to information published in the Gun Violence Archive, there have been over 270 mass shootings in the United States in 2017 so far, with a "mass shooting" defined as a single incident where at least four people are shot and/or killed. Here are ways to do just that. There's now an open and ongoing law enforcement investigation. But its a step in the right direction.

The statistics paint a very clear picture of destruction following the path taken by guns, and given America's ever-expanding pool of blood, it's reasonable to wonder why we even need guns in the first place given that 78% of us don't own one. They can be sold only by dealers with a special license, to purchasers who submit to a rigorous background check and are subjected to an extensive waiting period before delivery. As for protection against foreign nations or a takeover of the USA government, owning a gun will not help. This framing, Carlson explained, turned the issue of gun ownership into a divisive political one, rather than a public health crisis.

People dive for cover as reports of the horrifying shooting unfoldedWhat are gun laws in the US?

The argument trotted out by the NRA and those wedded to the 2nd Amendment is that "guns don't kill people".

The discussion right now shouldn't be about how to increase hotel security to prevent future actions such as those of Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock. You can't stop the gun-violence problem. Sure, you could try a buyback program like Australia (historically, those haven't worked here), but what about those who don't put a dollar value on their guns?

A majority of gun-related deaths in the USA are suicides and the states with the most guns also have the highest suicide rates.

And that, for many anti-gun politicians, is the point.

"If we were to cure mental illness, the suicide rate would go down by 50 to 75%", Jeffrey Swanson, a gun violence researcher at Duke University, told BuzzFeed News. Anyone who's spent 10 minutes thinking about gun control understands there is no way to quantify how many criminals are deterred by the presence of guns, or how many, for that matter, are turned away in the midst of crime. The point of the Second Amendment was not only that people could defend themselves from hostile individuals, but also that they could defend themselves (if need be) from the federal government. People with access to guns kill people. "The law also increased the age to legally purchase a handgun to 21.In 1975, the NRA established its lobbying arm, the Institute for Legislative Action, which aimed to nullify the 1968 law.President Ronald Reagan, an NRA member, signed the Firearm Owners" Protection Act in 1986, easing some of the penalties of the GCA and banning a federal registry of gun owners.Gun culture evolved in 1981 after John Hinckley Jr tried to assassinate Mr Reagan but instead almost killed the President's press secretary, James Brady. Those include countries with strict gun control.

The court reiterated that the government can regulate firearms, citing the ability to restrict guns in locations such as airports or schools.