CAPE CORAL, Florida -- Gun store owner and 10-year army veteran, Aaron Forum, listened to cell phone video captured during the Las Vegas massacre and assessed the weapon used was fully automatic.
"So that’s very obvious to me. Immediately that’s a fully automatic weapon," said Forum, owner of Shoot Center in Cape Coral Florida.
Full automatic rifles, also known as machine guns, are not typically available to the general public and usually kept for military or police services. However, Forum explained that these weapons are still able to be attained in by the average citizen with a few qualifications.
In Florida for example, where Las Vegas shooting suspect Stephen Paddock's brother lives, those qualifications include being 18 years or older, having a valid driver's license and having a clean criminal background. The military veteran pointed out that the biggest barrier to obtaining full automatic weaponry was money.
"The average citizen just simply can't afford those weapons," he explained. "You can be talking upward of 30 to 40 thousands dollars for different types of firearms that are available. That’s why you’ve only seen maybe two or three depending on what source you site legally transferrable machine guns used in crimes to kill people."
Despite the tragedy in Las Vegas, Forum said creating stricter gun laws wouldn't make a difference.
“If someone wants to get their hands on a firearm to go and hurt other people, regardless of how strict the laws are, they’re going to be able to do that," Forum said.
