What a surprise. A guy mows down more than 500 people with an assault rifle of some sort and all of a sudden Congressional Republicans, the NRA and their spokesperson, Donald Trump, are willing to have a ‘discussion’ about gun laws. Charles Grassley, who never met a law protecting 2nd-Amendment ‘rights’ he didn’t like, wants to hold hearings; Marco Rubio, who used a visit to Sturm, Ruger for a photo-op during his brief Presidential campaign wants to insure that there are no ‘vulnerabilities’ in federal gun laws (whatever that means); and even Rep. Mark Meadows, head of the Congressional Freedom Caucus (a.k.a what’s left of the Tea Party) is open to considering a gun bill.
Most everyone in Gun-nut Nation fell into line once Trump mumbled something about a discussion on gun laws as he was getting ready to fly to Puerto Rico before going on to Vegas the following day. There were some holdouts, of course, such as the nuts from Gun Owners of America who consider themselves to be the true holder of the flame for gun rights, but they can be ignored. As for Rush, he had to come up with some pathetic defense of Trump’s new ‘soft’ position on guns, so he’s spinning the bizarrely-stupid idea that the President is ‘pretending’ to be for a gun bill in order to get the left-wing media off his back.
And then we have the response of our friends in Fairfax, who rather than waiting a week and then blasting away which is what they did after Sandy Hook, have released a written statement supporting the idea that the ATF should review the accessory known as a bump-stock which can be used to make an AR or AK-style rifle fire full-auto even though the trigger is still re-set to its firing position after every shot.
So both sides are getting a little bit of what they want: the pro-gun gang aren’t discussing the banning of an actual gun and the gun-control crowd can finally say that the industry’s attempt to pass off assault weapons as something they call ‘modern sporting rifles’ has just taken a big dent. But before the political posturing on both sides goes any further, there’s something you have to understand. Here we are a week beyond when the shots rang out, and we still don’t know out whether, in fact, a gun with a bump-stock was used at all.
The cops who busted into the shooter’s room didn’t need five minutes to figure out which gun or guns he used in the assault. The floor was evidently littered with spent shell casings; look down at one and you instantly know the caliber of the gun. Then walk around the room, grab every gun in that caliber, put your hand around the barrel and the amount of heat coming off the carbon steel identifies the requisite gun. The cops were actually too busy taking pictures which were sold or given to various news websites to worry about the guns, which means this all-important crime scene was contaminated beyond belief.
And if you think I’m coming down too hard on the Las Vegs cops who reacted to the rampage in about as quick and effective a way as they could, think again. Not only do we have pictures of the guns floating around, but there’s also a picture of Paddock lying on the floor obviously very bloody and very dead. Who first posted this gem? Alex Jones – who else!
So now the entire political ruling class begins a debate about gun violence without having the faintest idea what they are talking about. What if the shooter was using a legally-purchased full-auto gun? What if it turns out that he bought what the gun industry would like you to believe is a ‘modern sporting rifle’ and converted it into an automatic rifle without using a bump-stock? Engaging in a discussion about gun violence without any evidence-based information has become as normal as gun violence itself.
Oct 12, 2017 @ 11:02:59
Well said. I wonder if an examination of which guns were clean and which are badly in need of a bore brush would help. That assumes this guy cleaned his guns. But you are right: the discussion so far begs the question.
Oct 12, 2017 @ 11:19:52
As I said in an earlier column, obviously once the guns were properly removed from Paddovk’s hotel room, they would all have to be rigorously tested. But if you shoot 10 rounds through any gun barrel, it heats up significantly and doesn’t return to room temp. for many hours. And since this guy shot hundreds of rounds, the barrel or barrels of the gun(s) that he used would have been very hot to the touch. In fact, one of the reasons that people who attach a bump-stock to an AR also usually attach a handgrip to the forward rail is not just to keep the gun under better control,m but to avoid the possibility that part of their hands or their fingers will come in contact with the barrel which would create a real skin burn if th gun was fired multiple rounds. So the point is that the cops who entered the hotel room and didn’t busy themlsevs taking pictures of the scene to sell to Alex Jones could have immediately known which guns were used simply by picking up every gun by the barrel. And if any gun had a barrel that was still at room temperature, it couldn’t have been used. So you isolate the guns with hot barrels and you test them first. Meanwhile, it is now eleven (!!!) days since all the guns in Paddock’s room were taken into custody and we still don’t know whether the gun(s) he used included bump stocks or not. And now the MA House of Representatives has voted a bump-stock ban, which is a real ban and also includes a ban on any gun magazine which holds more than 10 rounds, whether it can be used on a gun that could be bump-stocked or not. So the hysteria based on the lack of valid information spreads. Which, if nothing else, gives Gun-nut Nation what they don’t need but will surely use, which is the idea that they are being set up as the ‘fall guys’ in this debate. Has anyone other than me questioned the fact that the LVPD can’t get its facts straight? Not that I’ve heard.
Oct 12, 2017 @ 11:35:41
You are right.
At this point, unless a report is released indicating the cops actually did write down what was hot to the touch and what was not, is to test all the guns of appropriate caliber in the room and see if any had modified sears, were purpose built machine guns or if it had to be a bump stock.