“I believed this world could change for the better.” Pulse survivors react to Las Vegas shooting

Pulse survivors have responded to the Las Vegas shooting in which at least 58 people were killed and more than 500 injured.

The shooting at the gay nightclub in Orlando, in which 49 people were killed, was eclipsed on Sunday when a gunman opened fire on a music festival.

This is the highest shooting death toll in modern US history.

The gunman, named as 64-year-old Nevada resident Stephen Paddock, opened fire on an open-air music festival attended by 22,000 people. Police say he killed himself as officers stormed the room where 19 guns were found.

Brandon Wolf, who helps to lead LGBTI advocacy group, The Dru Project, said he was ‘overcome’.

‘I was just overcome with feelings of grief and pain again,’ Wolf said. ‘It just – it hurts a lot.’ On how to cope with being a survivor of the tragedy, he said ‘it’s about protecting each other. It’s about surrounding each other with warmth and then, for the rest of this country, it’s about doing something about [gun violence]’.

‘My first reaction was to cry,’ Patience Carter, a Pulse survivor whose femur was shattered during the shooting, told NBC News. ‘I cried because I actually believed that this world could change for the better, and that hope was shattered.’

Pulse nightclub owner Barbara Poma extended her condolences to the victims of the Las Vegas shooting. ‘Finding words to convey the depth of horror we are all witnessing in Las Vegas is just impossible,’ Poma said in a statement. ‘It is just unimaginable that another mass shooting of even greater scope than that of Pulse Nightclub could occur again in this country, but indeed, it has. We must work harder to stop these crimes that destroy human life. We pray for those whose lives were taken, as well as for the wounded and the hundreds who will forever be affected by this monumental tragedy.’

Gays Against Guns, an advocacy group formed in response to the Pulse nightclub shootings, took on the politicians who are paid by the NRA to keep dangerous guns in American hands.

‘This is a pain we know very well. There have been many mass shootings since Pulse, and we’ve seen this play out where an incident like this happens and politicians who gladly take checks from the NRA engage ritualistically on this surface display of grief, and nothing happens,’ John Becker, a spokesperson for the organization’s D.C. chapter, said.

‘Over 30,000 Americans die every year as a result of gun violence, because we have prioritized unfettered access to murder weapons over human lives.’

Wolf said it is time every American comes together to work on a solution to prevent further mass shootings.

‘This country has an ailment,’ he added. ‘We are afflicted with hatred and violence. And if we don’t want our own neighbors to be next, it’s high time we set aside our differences and started to solve the problem.’