The real problem for those who would decry such manufacture, is that often the weapons that are the easiest to build are those most useful for overthrowing a dictatorial or overreaching criminal-political regime.
Posted on 08/04/2015 6:57:28 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
WALNUT CREEK (KRON/BCN) — A 21-year-old Lafayette native built the firearms he used to kill a 19-year-old college woman before he turned the gun on himself at a home in Walnut Creek last month, police said Tuesday.
Investigators say Scott Bertics bought gun parts through the mail and then secretly built the two firearms he used in the murder-suicide that claimed the life of Clare Orton.
The shooting happened on July 21 at a home in the city’s north Homestead neighborhood. Officers arrived on scene to find the two dead dead from apparent gunshot wounds in the home where Orton was living with her family, according to police.
Orton was home during summer break after finishing her freshman year at San Diego State University, investigators said. She was a graduate of Las Lomas High School in Walnut Creek and captain of the school’s cross country team, according to the school’s newspaper, Las Lomas Page.
Bertics had enrolled at Stanford University in the fall of 2012, but he took a voluntary leave of absence in the fall of 2014, according to university spokesman Brad Hayward.
Hayward said Bertics had not yet declared a major, but he is listed on a 2013 demonstration called “Controlling Robot Dynamics with Spiking Neurons.” He’s also acknowledged in a paper titled, “Developing
Articulated Robots in Task-Space with Spiking Silicon Neurons.”
Guns that people build themselves are not required to be registered, Walnut Creek police Lt. Lanny Edwards said. “As long as you possess it yourself and don’t sell it, it’s not illegal to have,” said Edwards.
He added that while building a gun does not take a “rocket scientist” or a degree in mechanical engineering, it’s more complicated than merely snapping a few parts in place.
Detectives say they found nothing in their investigation to suggest anyone else was involved or had knowledge of Bertics’ plan.
When I was younger a criminal built his own gun and used it to murder officer Dave Chetcuti of the Millbrae PD.
My thought is that if he is able to build the device, his brain functions enough to execute him.
Why didn’t he just buy a gun?
back in the 50’s they were called zip guns.
The real problem for those who would decry such manufacture, is that often the weapons that are the easiest to build are those most useful for overthrowing a dictatorial or overreaching criminal-political regime.
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