GREENSBORO, N.C. — President Donald Trump ordered a ban on bump stocks after the deadly 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting. Investigators say Stephen Paddock used weapons with bump stocks to shoot into a country music concert crowd -- killing 58 people. under the federal ban it is now illegal to buy, own or sell bump stocks. People with bump stocks must destroy them or turn them in to authorities. If you don't, you could face jail time.
Melissa Wall works in Winston-Salem and was at the concert that night. We spoke with her via facetime to get her thoughts on the ban. She said, "Its absolutely a step in the right direction, I do believe. Is it enough? Absolutely not. There are so many gaps to people's knowledge of guns, background checks, ways to improve those, who can get their hands on guns [..]."
Wall said before the shooting, her opinions on guns weren't as strong as they are now. "Until you've actually been fortunate and blessed enough to live through something its hard to determine and identify what you really do believe. I feel like my beliefs are so much more strong now considering I'm here. I'm here to speak about gun control and what I think can be done and I'm here to support the banning of the bump stocks because I don’t think anyone needs a weapon that can fire 90 rounds every 10 seconds whether the accuracy is there or not, I still don’t think its something the average civilian needs to have where they can go out in public, where you are, where your children are, and cause severe harm."
While she's happy with the ban, she feels everyone can do their part to help. Wall said, "If you feel like someone is behaving erratically, whether it be a family member, you can work with your physician, you can put them in a position where you can get a restraining order, even if they're owned legally, can be taken away from that person, which could and prevent a suicide or a mass shooting during a time when someone is going through something or having a like a mental crisis."
Wall says she still thinks about the shooting every day. She said, "Its not something that I ever wake up and do not think about. I still wear my Vegas strong bracelet every single day. I never take it off, so that way when I look down I realize that 58 angels are always remembered and I'm lucky enough to not to be 59. [...] It all comes right back to you right then, every feeling, everything in that moment, it all comes rushing right back. It's emotional but I have so much to be thankful for in life, with my children and being alive and being able to celebrate with my family and friends and colleagues and just the joy of wake up every single day and making it better than it was yesterday."
When asked if she's ever experienced survivor's guilt, Wall said she had. "If I'm the person on the highway that sees a wreck, I'm the one that’s gonna stop. That’s my personality, and that’s what I would do being a nurse or not. So going back to Vegas and not feeling like I was able to help, truly feeling like it was fight or flight, you do have a sense of guilt. But then I can look at my 2 children and realize I'm here to take care of them. I'm able to still be their mom and do the little things with them that, if I had stopped I may not have been able to do, I might not be here and someone else might be filling that mommy role for me. So I have to look at it and say I was meant to be here and I cant feel bad I can continue just to try to make up for that in my day to day life."
In the end, Wall says her gratitude makes her want to do more and helps her encourage her children to spread kindness as well. "I'm very thankful. I'm thankful to be here and I just want to continue to educate people on gun control, on mental health, how they can work with their primary care physicians and helping make people just spread kindness. [...] My children know, when they get out of the car to go to school, I always tell them do something kind for someone, say something nice, and they really do that. [...] because I think one act of kindness or just one gesture towards somebody whether it be you hold the door open for somebody or you tell someone how nice they look, that may change their mindset for a whole day. [...] You could’ve potentially saved them or saved the general public from something they were thinking about doing and you changed their mind by treating them with kindness… it such a simple act that can change so many lives and its easy for anyone to do."