Las Vegas shooting: The Kiwis who witnessed the deadly massacre

A number of New Zealanders who were caught up in Las Vegas shooting are still trying to come to terms with what they saw.

New Zealander Ben Northrop, from Wellington, had just arrived in the city when 64-year-old Stephen Paddock opened fire at a crowd attending a country music festival, killing 59.

"There's firing automatic weapons going on here, we've got a massive f***ing shooting at some concert, holy shit," he says in footage he recorded of the massacre.

At first he thought it was a fireworks display, he told Newshub on Tuesday.

"There was the last trail of automatic gunfire... and then not much screaming, but just people running, and then an immense amount of sirens like nothing I've ever seen before."

Just metres away people were taking cover, hiding anywhere they could, not knowing where the gunfire was coming from.

Among them was another Kiwi, Tanya Mickleburgh and her 13-year-old son Ryan.

"We ran through a souvenir t-shirt shop and then we went to the Marriott Hotel for safety," Ms Mickleburgh says.

"When we were running it was pretty scary," Ryan added, "but I felt a bit better once we were at [the hotel]".

Former New Zealand military man, Genghis Cohen, owns a machine gun range in Las Vegas.

He told Newshub there needs to be increased gun control if they're to stop the massacres.

"America's gun laws are pretty lax to a certain degree and there [are] a lot of loopholes in the law that allow these type of weapons to be put in the hands of the wrong people."

Mr Cohen supports the right to carry, but not without restrictions.

"If we're going to give someone the right to carry something that's specifically designed to kill other humans I think there needs to be a bit more control, training and monitoring of these people."

There are currently 61 Kiwis registered on SafeTravel as being in Las Vegas, however the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says no New Zealanders are known to have been injured or killed in the incident.

Newshub.