The parents of Sheldon Mack – who was injured in the Las Vegas mass shooting two years ago – are calling for gun control in the United States after two mass shootings over the weekend.
It was nearly two years ago that the Mack family learned their son Sheldon Mack had been shot twice when a gunman in the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas opened fire on 22,000 concertgoers at a country music festival on Oct. 1, 2017. Sheldon survived but 58 people did not.
This weekend, at least 31 people were killed in mass shootings in Texas and Ohio. Twenty-two people were killed in the shooting in El Paso, Texas on Saturday and another nine died during the shooting in Dayton, Ohio on Sunday.
Hudson Mack, Sheldon Mack’s father and former CHEK News anchor, and his wife Patty Mack say enough is enough, adding that Americans have normalized mass shootings.
Hudson Mack and Patty Mack speak to media on Aug. 5, 2019.
“Unfortunately, unless and until Americans get the political will to make a change they have accepted this as part of life. Your right to carry an assault rifle outweighs your right to be safe in a public place, and you don’t have time to mourn because your child is just the last massacre,” Hudson said.
Hudson and Patty were running errands on Saturday when they heard about the El Paso shooting then hours later, news came out about another shooting in a popular nightlife area in Dayton.
“You get angry because you can’t believe it’s happening again and you feel sick inside because you know what those families are going through,” Patty said.
This all comes less than a week after a 19-year-old gunman killed three people at a garlic festival in Gilroy, Calif. Sheldon’s girlfriend was planning to be at.
“The maddening thing too is that nothing changes. You hear the same thoughts and prayers and in this instant, it wasn’t even 24 hours before it happened again,” Hudson said.
Hudson and Patty say the U.S. government needs to put a ban on military-grade assault weapons.
“Take away weapons that were intended to kill as many people as quickly as possible out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them, and that’s anybody but the military,” Hudson said.
Sheldon who was celebrating his 21st birthday at the time of the Las Vegas shooting has made a full recovery and plans to go to BCIT in the fall.
“He’s lost a few years,” Patty said.
“Now he gets to start again but a lot of people don’t have that opportunity.”
CHEK News
