HE was quiet. He was unassuming. But he was obsessed with guns — and a staunch defender of his constitutional right to own them.

That’s the assessment of a former associate of Stephen Paddock’s family, who visited the Las Vegas shooter’s modest two-bedroom home and was introduced to the firearms that would later unleash so much death and destruction.

TONIGHT on #9ACA | Our world #EXCLUSIVE with the Aussie mate of Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock. pic.twitter.com/6xdJgo0cqN — A Current Affair (@ACurrentAffair9) October 6, 2017

“As we walked through that small area, Steve said ‘bedroom ... sitting room ... and gun room ...’ Aah gunroom?” Adam Le Fevre told Nine’s A Current Affair of his visit to Paddock’s home.

“And he said, well, most people in the US have firearms and they need to be protected and of course you don’t want firearms falling into the hands of the wrong people. Retrospectively, I wish I had’ve picked up on that earlier.”

Mr Le Fevre said he did not get to see the guns themselves. But they were very clearly a central part of Paddock’s life.

“It never occurred to me that he was planning violence against anyone,” he said.

FAMILY TIES

Mr Le Fevre had been in a relationship with the sister of Marilou Danley, Paddock’s partner.

He was introduced to Paddock in 2013 when they both travelled to the Philippines. Later, he met up with him on a trip to Las Vegas.

“Steve was very generous because of his success in high rolling. I would say I had no reason not to like him,” Mr Le Fevre said.

Then came the Las Vegas massacre earlier this week.

“The first reaction was shock, disbelief and then of course not long after I realised I had this association with this terrible, terrible tragedy.”

A former Australian relative of Stephen Paddock speaks EXCLUSIVELY to #9ACA TONIGHT on @Channel9 at 7.00PM. https://t.co/MUbthI4fUm — A Current Affair (@ACurrentAffair9) October 6, 2017

“It is a very chilling thought to know that the person that is at the centre of the world’s largest story at the moment was somebody that I knew, somebody that I was welcomed into their home, into their family, into their life.

“Not in my wildest dreams ... would I have ever thought that anybody could do this, let alone someone who I — at the time — had the pleasure to meet.”

RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS

Mr Le Fevre said he noticed Paddock became very defensive when asked about the US constitutional rights to bear arms.

“I raised that question with Steve and it’s something that he came back at me with an incredible degree of vigour,” Mr Le Fevre said.

“He was very strict and very firm on the fact that it’s a right. It’s the freedom of every American to participate, to own a gun and use it … when need be. I was shocked. There was no compassion in regard to my question.”

Paddock was insistent: “That law should never be changed”.

Mr Le Fevre said he chose not to pick an argument. “When in Rome, be respectful,” he told A Current Affair.

He said said he fully believed Paddock to be capable of planning such an attack by himself.

“The planning that has gon into this terrible, horrible occurrence has been nothing other than military precision. With Steven Paddock, that doesn’t surprise me because everything he did seemed to be with precision.”

HIGH ROLLER

Mr Le Fevre told Nine Paddock considered himself to be a professional gambler.

“He said as a professional gambler .. ‘I operate with $1.5 million to $2 million a year and that can generate me anywhere between $200,000 to $300,000 a year’,” he said.

“He had no qualms in telling me of the millions that he’d used.”

Steven Paddock had another Aussie friend, Adam Le Fever. Adam exclusively told us about his time with Paddock. #9ACA https://t.co/cQyyoScGFf pic.twitter.com/LZM41y30R6 — A Current Affair (@ACurrentAffair9) October 6, 2017

Paddock also boasted of the lifestyle he had been leading in Las Vegas’ casinos.

“He was very intent with it — extremely intent. He was very much a calculated person. Everything he did seemed to be planned with precision,” Mr Le Fevre said.

FAMILY MATTERS

Mr Le Fevre told Nine he did not regard Paddock’s relationship with Marilou to be a loving one.

“I saw him talk to her abruptly and Liza and I had questions,” he said.

Marilou seemed very nervous and jittery around Paddock.

“He would talk to her in a condescending way at times, and while I was concerned, I was prepared to dismiss it as that’s his nature.”

Mr Le Fevre said he “without any doubt” believed Marilou had no knowledge of what Paddock was up to.

“And it would have been planned,” he said. “This is not just something he did at the spur of the moment. And I know Marilou and the family well enough. All of them are very loving, a very good Catholic family. I believe if she had the slightest inkling something was not right, of what’s occurred, she would have shared that with her family ...”