This graph illustrates the terrible scope of the Las Vegas shooting


Sunday night's mass shooting at a Las Vegas music festival was the deadliest in modern U.S. history, with at least 59 people dead and 527 wounded, and perhaps not coincidentally, it was possibly the first such mass murder carried out by a fully automatic weapon. On Tuesday, Mike Allen at Axios laid out three "hard truths" about the tragedy, perpetrated by a 64-year-old retired accountant and avid gambler with no known significant record of run-ins with the law, according to law enforcement officials.
Those truths included that American "gun manufacturers are heavily incentivized by market demand and lax laws in most states, and by the federal government, to allow mad men to accumulate all the firepower they crave for mass killings," and that won't change just as it "didn't change after Columbine or Sandy Hook," largely because "President Trump and congressional Republican have every incentive to protect the status quo." To illustrate how the Las Vegas shooting compares to other shooting incidents with at least four people shot going back to 2013, Axios created a graph. Highlighted rows are the major attacks, with the red figures representing the dead and the grey figures the wounded.
On Monday night, former Trump chief strategist Stephen Bannon told Jonathan Swan at Axios that Trump won't support gun control, as he did at an earlier time. "Impossible: will be the end of everything," Bannon texted. If Trump supported gun-safety measures, "as hard as it is to believe," it would be "actually worse" with his base than if he backed an amnesty immigration bill. "Amnesty," like many gun control measures, is actually pretty popular.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
'Two dolls': Can Trump sell Americans on austerity?
Feature Trump's tariffs may be threatening holiday shelves but they've handed Democrats a 'huge gift'
-
China looms large over India and Pakistan's latest violence
IN THE SPOTLIGHT Beijing may not have had troops on the ground, but as South Asia's two nuclear powers bared their teeth over Kashmir, China eyed an opportunity
-
Where the new Pope Leo XIV stands on various issues
The Explainer The first American pontiff is expected to continue some of his predecessor's work
-
Suspect charged after 11 die in Vancouver car attack
Speed Read Kai-Ji Adam Lo drove an SUV into a crowd at the Lapu Lapu Day festival
-
Kenya arrests alleged ant smugglers
speed read Two young Belgians have been charged for attempting to smuggle ants out of the country to exotic pet buyers
-
Judge ends Eric Adams case, Trump leverage
Speed Read Federal corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams were dismissed, as requested by Trump's Justice Department
-
Texas arrests midwife on felony abortion charges
Speed Read Maria Margarita Rojas and an employee at one of her clinics are the first to be criminally charged under Texas' near-total abortion ban
-
South Carolina to execute prisoner by firing squad
speed read Death row inmate Brad Sigmon prefers the squad over the electric chair or lethal injection, his lawyer said
-
Mexico extradites 29 cartel figures amid US tariff threat
Speed Read The extradited suspects include Rafael Caro Quintero, long sought after killing a US narcotics agent
-
Leonard Peltier released from prison
Speed Read The Native American activist convicted of killing two FBI agents had his life sentence commuted by former President Joe Biden
-
Ex-Sen. Bob Menendez sentenced to 11 years
Speed Read The former New Jersey senator was convicted on federal bribery and corruption charges last year