Weapons & Guns

Sarah Silverman is railing against the NRA and laying blame at its feet for unnecessarily dividing our country when it comes to gun control.

We got Sarah at LAX Wednesday and asked if she thinks America will finally do something about gun control following the Las Vegas massacre. Her short answer -- NO!

Dan Bilzerian begged cops to hand him a gun as the Las Vegas shooter sprayed bullets at concertgoers ... and it resulted in a heated confrontation.

Dan -- who flaunts his arsenal of weapons -- has been skewered on social media for running from the massacre. That's why this video is so interesting ... Dan actually wants to join forces to take down the murderer, but cops weren't having it.

Listen closely ... Dan asks a heavily armed Vegas cop for one of his guns, and the cop recoils ... he seems insulted that some random guy would dare ask him for a weapon.

Dan pulls out his wallet, appearing to show cops he has the right to pack heat, and screams, "Give me a gun!" The cop fires back, "No, get the f*** away from me right now."

T.I. is standing his ground on gun laws, saying there's still a NEED for Americans to own assault weapons ... even though he can't own them himself.

We got Tip leaving Catch L.A. Wednesday night and asked him if the Las Vegas massacre makes him second guess security at his concerts, or his thoughts on gun control. Perfect guy to ask, really ... considering he did time for illegal possession of machine guns and silencers.

T.I.'s faith in the 2nd Amendment isn't shaken after the Vegas tragedy -- in his eyes, there's at least one damn good reason why law-abiding citizens have to have high-powered weapons, like an AR-15.

Rosie O'Donnell isn't as pissed as Lance Bass about gay men not being able to immediately donate blood after a tragedy -- she says the nation's gun crisis is the bigger issue right now.

We got Rosie Tuesday leaving LAX where she had zero enthusiasm for our photog's effort to follow up on Lance calling out the FDA for its 12-month blood donation ban on sexually active gay men.

The younger brother of Stephen Paddock has a rap sheet of a hardened criminal ... light-years different from the brother who slaughtered dozens of innocent people.

Bruce Paddock currently lives in California, but he's led a nomadic life. TMZ has pulled court docs which show he's been a regular in the criminal justice system. Among his arrests ...

-- Criminal threats

-- Arson

-- Vandalism

-- Petty theft

-- Burglary

-- Weed

-- Driving on a suspended license

-- Contempt

It's unclear how many of these resulted in convictions. We know for sure the 57-year-old was convicted of petty theft with a prior, and vandalism. Don't confuse Bruce with Eric, the Paddock brother living in Florida, who's been speaking to the media.

Billy Baldwin thinks anyone who gets up in arms over the right to bear arms is grossly misguided.

We got the second-youngest Baldwin brother Tuesday at LAX, and he scoffs at the NRA and anyone else who thinks the 2nd Amendment gives people an absolute right to possess any type of weapon they want.

He also has high praise for Jimmy Kimmel, who he has developed a voice more powerful than the President's or members of Congress ... first on the subject of health care, and now gun control.

The mayhem that ensued in the minutes after mass murderer Stephen Paddock began firing at a crowd from his Mandalay Bay hotel room was captured by a cop's body cam ... and it's terrifying.

Las Vegas PD just released footage from one of its officers working with others to try to determine where the gunfire is coming from ... while also trying to direct people to safety.

The video of the chaos while gunshots continue to sound in the distance is disturbing.

The brother of mass murderer Stephen Paddock lost it Tuesday during a bizarre, rambling interview.

Eric Paddock spoke with CBS News and broke down, unable to talk for a time, before his thoughts about his brother meandered.

He says his family is torn apart over the deeds of his brother, and this isn't the Stephen they knew.

Eric says his brother transferred $100k to the Philippines for legit reasons ... to care for his girlfriend. Authorities say she's still a person of interest, but Eric thinks his brother manipulated her to leave the country so she wasn't around when he fired into the Vegas crowd.

Eric also says his brother was rich and generous with his money, sometimes spending thousands of dollars on sushi for friends and relatives.

Wayne Newton doesn't think the shooting massacre in Las Vegas will dim the lights in venues along the strip ... but he says Sin City's performers gotta do what they do and power through the grief.

Wayne -- a Vegas staple in live entertainment -- came on "TMZ Live" Tuesday to dish on whether Vegas would have a hard time coming back to full form after Stephen Paddock gunned down 59 people and injured hundreds more from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel.

The Midnight Idol doesn't seem too worried about that, 'cause he says Vegas is still one of the safest places around despite the massacre. But he's putting the local showstoppers on notice here too.

An employee inside the shoe store Young Dolph sought refuge in frantically called 911 while the rapper bled out behind a counter.

Dolph was rushed to the hospital with multiple gunshot wounds last week after someone shot at the rapper in broad daylight, hitting him several times -- including once in the buttocks -- on a busy street corner in Hollywood.

The store employee made the emergency call from a back office in the store where he says he and several customers hid after hearing shots.

Dolph's been in the hospital ever since the shooting and underwent surgery.

Dolph broke his silence for the first time since the shooting by tweeting several dolphin emojis Saturday followed by a simple message that read "Its DOLPH!"

🐬🐬🐬🐬🐬🐬🐬🐬🐬🐬🐬🐬🐬🐬🐬Its DOLPH!

The Las Vegas shooter apparently turned one of his rifles into a fully automatic weapon with an inexpensive modification that can easily be bought online.

It appears Stephen Paddock -- the man who brutally murdered 59 people and injured over 500 -- attached what's called a slide fire stock or bump stock to one of his 23 guns before spraying hundreds, if not thousands, of bullets into a crowd of concertgoers from his 32nd floor Mandalay Bay hotel room.

The stock allows the shooter to hold the trigger once and fire in rapid fashion at hundreds of rounds per minute, essentially making it a fully automatic rifle or something extremely close to it.

Automatic weapons are nearly impossible to obtain but a stock runs about $160 online, and it's legal.

It appears Paddock also had a SureFire 100 magazine hooked on the rifle with the stock. The 64-year-old reportedly had multiple high-capacity magazines loaded.

Sunday's shooting is the deadliest in modern U.S. history.

The Mandalay Bay hotel room where the Las Vegas shooter opened fire was littered with bullets and his arsenal of high-powered weapons.

Video, obtained by TMZ, shows one rifle, still on a bipod, just inside the demolished door to the suite. You can see the damage left after police blew up the door to get to Stephen Paddock ... who had already killed himself by that point.

Photos obtained by Boston25 news showed even more weapons and ammo scattered on the floor.

All told, police say Paddock had 23 firearms in the hotel room -- plus 19 more guns, explosives and several thousand rounds of ammo in his Mesquite, Nevada home.

The guy behind the Vegas massacre bought some of his weapons at a gun store right near his Nevada home ... a place that touts itself as the best spot in town to buy firearms ... and guitars.

Stephen Paddock loaded up at the Guns & Guitars store in Mesquite, NV -- where you can buy a semi-automatic rifle on a Monday ... and come back for a guitar session every other Tuesday.

Seriously ... the place is currently running a student guitar special, $99 for a guitar with a strap and 4 picks ... while offering a free box of ammo with the purchase of a handgun.

Want to combine the best of guns and guitars? They also sell an M-16 Machine Gun Guitar for $225.

So far, no word on which guns Paddock bought from G&G -- but store officials confirmed he was a customer ... on the gun side of the store.

The store issued a statement saying, "All necessary background checks and procedures were followed" when Paddock bought guns from them.

"He never gave any indication or reason to believe he was unstable or unfit at any time."

Jason Aldean -- who was performing at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Vegas when shots first rang out -- is now voicing his despair, pleading with Americans to act civilly.

Aldean says he's gone through a variety of emotions since the Sunday night massacre -- fear, anger, heartache and compassion. He says, "The world is becoming the kind of place I am afraid to raise my children in."

And then he says, "We aren't Democrats or Republicans, Whites or Blacks, Men or Women. We are all humans and we are all Americans and it's time to start acting like it and stand together as ONE!"

He ends with an elusive wish ... "Time to come together and stop the hate!"

America's terrorist organization isn't a four-letter word, it's only three ... as in the NRA, according to Public Enemy's Chuck D.

Chuck's outrage was obvious when we asked how he was feeling about the mass shooting in Las Vegas -- and he's laying blame squarely at President Trump's feet. As far as he's concerned, the administration's blindly backing the NRA ... even in the wake of atrocities.

Still, PE's frontman sounded hopeful things will eventually change ... but says it's on the next generation to make it happen.

Dana White tells TMZ Sports ... the UFC will donate $1 million to help the victims affected by the Las Vegas shooting.

The UFC honcho said Vegas is his town -- it's where UFC is based and where he lives -- and he feels it's his duty to help the city recover in any way he can.