Vegas strip mass shooting!

[Perd Hapley]

Mrs Clinton commented: "Our grief isn't enough. We can and must put politics aside, stand up to the NRA, and work together to try to stop this from happening again."

I'm kinda in awe of someone in one sentence declaring we must put aside politics to make a political statement.

Sadly, that's pretty common. It's always helpful to frame the opposition as "just being political," and framing your own ideas as common sense, or working together, or what-have-you.


What did surprise me today, was listening to NPR coverage of this. They interviewed the guy who wrote Gunfight, and he pointed out a couple of times that full-auto weaponry is very highly-regulated. Good for NPR and Mr. Winkler.

[TechMan]

I have a hard time imaging a die hard Republican shooting up a country music fest. So far, he hasn't tripped off... anything. No criminal background.

Death toll is up to 58, 406 injured.

Mrs Clinton commented: "Our grief isn't enough. We can and must put politics aside, stand up to the NRA, and work together to try to stop this from happening again."

I'm kinda in awe of someone in one sentence declaring we must put aside politics to make a political statement.

Kind of like Elizabeth Warren being heartsick for about 30 seconds.
https://twitchy.com/samj-3930/2017/10/02/heap-big-bs-heartsick-elizabeth-warren-cant-wait-to-exploit-and-politicize-lv-shooting/

[RevDisk]

Sadly, that's pretty common. It's always helpful to frame the opposition as "just being political," and framing your own ideas as common sense, or working together, or what-have-you.


What did surprise me today, was listening to NPR coverage of this. They interviewed the guy who wrote Gunfight, and he pointed out a couple of times that full-auto weaponry is very highly-regulated. Good for NPR and Mr. Winkler.

Caught that on NPR as well.

Pretty much nothing being put public on this guy so far besides his name.
Surprising.
And the videos you can clearly hear his weapon is FA.

Listening to it... AR or similar, illegally converted to FA. Guy was mag dumping, then switching to new rifle rather than reloading.

[Perd Hapley]

Reportedly, the police have confirmed an automatic weapon was used, but that may just be reporter-misunderstanding. We'll see.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/02/us/las-vegas-shooter/index.html

[RevDisk]

"The official said initial reports suggest at least one rifle was altered to function as an automatic weapon."

[Perd Hapley]

"The official said initial reports suggest at least one rifle was altered to function as an automatic weapon."

Exactly. Could be a slide-fire stock, binary trigger, etc. Could be something more involved. If it is an off-the-shelf device, I guess they'll be run out of business.

[HeroHog]

A clip I listened to had a varying rate of fire like he was using a trigger crank.

[Perd Hapley]

I wonder how many Democrat or non-political country music fans (whether or not they were at the festival) will take note of hateful comments about the victims just being gun-toting Trump voters.

[AJ Dual]

I wonder how many Democrat or non-political country music fans (whether or not they were at the festival) will take note of hateful comments about the victims just being gun-toting Trump voters.

I pretty much work from the assumption that everybody knows by now that the "other side" red/blue... whatever you want to call it, hates the other.  And wherever there's coexistence, it's because of "don't ask don't tell", or people simply not discussing it.

Usually, if this kind of thing has an impact at all, it'll "firm up the base" but not actually make anybody switch sides, so to speak.

[MechAg94]

I am trying to work off the assumption that any facts I hear in the first 48 hours are suspect and need to be verified. 

However, I am curious about the weapons used.  I agree that it may not be full auto.  The only sound bytes I heard were the first series of shots that sounded like someone dumping a 60 or 100 round mag or belt fed.  My only frame of reference is using a slide fire stock. 

[Angel Eyes]

I wonder how many Democrat or non-political country music fans (whether or not they were at the festival) will take note of hateful comments about the victims just being gun-toting Trump voters.

... like one of the lawyers for CBS? 

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2017/10/02/top-cbs-lawyer-no-sympathy-for-vegas-vics-probably-republicans.html

https://twitter.com/TheBrandonMorse/status/914885815901319168/photo/1

[Ben]

I am trying to work off the assumption that any facts I hear in the first 48 hours are suspect and need to be verified.  

However, I am curious about the weapons used.  I agree that it may not be full auto.  The only sound bytes I heard were the first series of shots that sounded like someone dumping a 60 or 100 round mag or belt fed.  My only frame of reference is using a slide fire stock.  

Information on weapons is starting to come out. Obviously some erroneous stuff in the article. The "purchased in CA" was of interest to me. I don't believe that would be legal, unless we find out he had CA residency, but then I'm not sure he could have legally purchased from a gun store in NV (I'm not familiar with NV laws).

It sounds like maybe he had at least some the rifles setup so he could just drop an empty and then go to the next one. That would explain the 5.56 and 7.62.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/10/02/las-vegas-shooting-killer-bought-more-than-30-weapons-source-says.html

[MillCreek]

http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/02/us/las-vegas-attack-stephen-paddock-trnd/index.html

Mr. Paddock was a retired accountant who could afford to play poker at $100/hand. His brother continues to insist that Mr. Paddock had no ties to terror or hate groups and is mystified that he did this.

I hope the police find some notes on his computer, or a social media presence or something that gives some insight as to why Mr. Paddock did this.  Because the initial reports sure make it sound like he was a retired middle-aged Everyman.

[Perd Hapley]

Alright, I am finally ready for a ban. A ban on journalists trying to explain firearms, or the laws which regulate them.

[HeroHog]

Listen to the rate of fire varying on this recording and tell me he wasn't using a trigger crank - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COxEmUXp0J4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jif4Wo0LDX8

[Hawkmoon]

A good friend of mine has a good friend who is a recently-retired senior command officer in the Las Vegas PD. The retiree still lives in Las Vegas, so I'm sure he has some inside skinny. Here's what my friend said his friend reported:

The gunman had ten (10) AR-15s in the room, and more than 5,000 rounds of ammo. High capacity magazines were mounted in most of them and there were at least 14 more such magazines in the room. Most rifles were equipped with bump-fire devices. He also had a hammer (to break the window’s glass, windows in Las Vegas hotels do not open more than a few centimeters) and a S&W .38 Special revolver, which he used to shoot himself at the same time the SWAT officers entered his room and shot him.

LVPD was very lucky, it could take them hours to figure out where the shooter was, in the mean time this bastard could have shot thousands of people. But all that smoke from all those rounds he fired, triggered the smoke alarm in his room, and that’s how they found him. He was dead less than 10 minutes after the first shot was fired.

[Scout26]

Listen to the rate of fire varying on this recording and tell me he wasn't using a trigger crank - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COxEmUXp0J4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jif4Wo0LDX8

Given the range 500+yards, it sounds like he's swinging the guns from side to side, sweeping the area with fire.  So your get a Doppler effect that makes it sound like the rate of fire is changing.

[Jamisjockey]

Given the range 500+yards, it sounds like he's swinging the guns from side to side, sweeping the area with fire.  So your get a Doppler effect that makes it sound like the rate of fire is changing.

I would assume so.

And expect hard core ban calls for bump fire stocks etc.

[Ben]

A good friend of mine has a good friend who is a recently-retired senior command officer in the Las Vegas PD. The retiree still lives in Las Vegas, so I'm sure he has some inside skinny. Here's what my friend said his friend reported:

If the report is accurate, bump fire and similar devices will be gone before the end of the year. That's a no-brainer easy concession for Rs to make, and they will, so they can say they're "doing something".

AR prices will be going through the roof, and I wouldn't be surprised to see several restrictive bills introduced before the end of the year. I won't bet either way on if they go nowhere or somewhere a month from now when the next big thing hits the MSM news cycle. Notice that Puerto Rico suddenly isn't an, "we're all dying" thing anymore.

[Hawkmoon]

Notice that Puerto Rico suddenly isn't an, "we're all dying" thing anymore.

Wasn't Trump clever to arrange this shooting to deflect attention from how badly his administration is responding to hurricane Maria? The man is obviously a PR genius. And the shooter is conveniently dead, so we'll never know how much Trump paid him.

If the report is accurate, bump fire and similar devices will be gone before the end of the year.

Call me a traitor to the cause, but I won't be terribly upset if they ban bump-fire or slide-fire stocks. I never saw any reason for them, anyway. Now, if they go after AR-15s in general, then I will be upset.

[MechAg94]

Given the range 500+yards, it sounds like he's swinging the guns from side to side, sweeping the area with fire.  So your get a Doppler effect that makes it sound like the rate of fire is changing.

Unless you are very practiced with bump fire, you wouldn't have to sweep your fire.  The gun would do that for you.  I have fired a Slide-Fire stock AR and it was tough to hold it loosely enough to allow bump fire yet still control where you were shooting.  At over 500 yards, he would be spraying all over the crowd without even trying.

[Jamisjockey]

Unless you are very practiced with bump fire, you wouldn't have to sweep your fire.  The gun would do that for you.  I have fired a Slide-Fire stock AR and it was tough to hold it loosely enough to allow bump fire yet still control where you were shooting.  At over 500 yards, he would be spraying all over the crowd without even trying.

Over 20,000 people.

There's a picture of what that looks like here
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3234705/Trump-hammers-sanctuary-cities-crap-jokes-replacing-Obamacare-Donaldcare-women-CRY-20-000-enthralled-Texans-roar-90-minute-speech.html

[Perd Hapley]

Four Months After Manchester, Ariana Grande Calls for 'Love, Unity, Peace, Gun Control' in Wake of Las Vegas Shooting

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/breakingnews/four-months-after-manchester-ariana-grande-calls-for-love-unity-peace-gun-control-in-wake-of-las-vegas-shooting/ar-AAsNRwI?OCID=ansmsnnews11

Yeah, nothing unites Americans like our desire for strict controls on guns.

[AJ Dual]

His brother continues to insist that Mr. Paddock had no ties to terror or hate groups and is mystified that he did this.

The brother was squirrely as all get out, if someone told me he was a meth head tweaking out, I'd have believed them.  Combined with the Dad making the FBI most-wanted list back in the late 60's and early 70's... there's a good chance of some predisposition for all sorts of bat-*expletive deleted*it crazy.

The pink shirt Trump protest pics, I've been watching several feeds, and none of them have been debunked yet.

So my guess is that it's a combination of genetic disposition to crazy/criminality, and Trump Derangement syndrome. He might have lived a normal life with one or the other, but I'm guessing not both.  I might throw gambling debts in there as a final push over the edge, but so far nothing to suggest he was liquidating his considerable assets to cover them, which I think would be the usual pattern before hitting rock-bottom.

[Hawkmoon]

The Democrats aren't wasting any time:

http://dailycaller.com/2017/10/02/democrats-immediately-call-for-gun-control-after-las-vegas-shooting/