[ArrogantBustard]

US military snipers train to engage targets at ranges exceeding 1000 yards. They do so with what amounts to a jazzed up Remington Model 700 bolt action rifle. You can go to your local Wal*Mart and buy a .308 caliber Remington 700. Mount a decent scope on it, and you have a weapon which an expert rifleman can use to reliably hit man-sized (or deer sized) targets at ranges 'way beyond 500 yards. Most deer ar probably shot at nearer 100 yards because a) most hunters aren't that great of marksmen and b) in the woods, they don't need to be. But the bottom line, IMO, is that there is no meaningful difference between a military sniper's rifle and Joe Sixpack's deer rifle. The sniper's weapon is simply more refined. (And the sniper is a much better shot.)

AB

[cogitator]

Thanks for the answer. Mr. Diaz needs to refine his
terms, but probably not for media consumption.

[jonascord]

To a socialist, elitist gun-grabber, a 'sniper rifle' is anything with a telescopic sight. Since he "knows" from TV that you can't miss with a telescopic sight, and that 'anyone' can hit a .50 cent piece at 400 yards, in a rainstorm, and a single .30 cal. bullet can destroy a sandbagged position, (re: Saving Private Ryan, Enemy At The Gates)wouldn't you fear it? It's especially troubling for democrat polititians, since what if all the hunters started to hunt crooks? The democrat voter base would dwindle...

[Mustard]

Let's not forget Charles Whitman who on Monday August 1, 1966 climbed the tower at the U of Texas and killed 16 people and wounded 33 others with a Remington Model 700 6mm with a 4x Leopold scope and a bare (unscoped) .30 M-1 carbine. Two of Whitman's shots approached 1000 yards. Whitman was a former US Marine who had fired "expert" at rapid fire distance. He was not a marine "sniper" he was just an ordinary marine "rifleman."

An ordinary rifle in the hands of a good shooter. If Whitman would have had better weapons there would have been over 40 dead that day. As one Texas Ranger was quoted as saying that fateful day: "That ain't just shootin', that's a marine shootin'."

I make these points (as did you)to illustrate that it is not the weapon but more the shooter. So far the Maryland shooter has not displayed a great skill at shooting. I don't believe any of the shots were farther than 200 yards. What the Maryland shooter has displayed is a cunning for escape and evasion and a steady hand while holding the sights on flesh and pulling the trigger.

Mustard
(forming a counter sniper team in Anne Arundel County Maryland)

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

But the bottom line, IMO, is that there is no meaningful difference between a military sniper's rifle and Joe Sixpack's deer rifle. The sniper's weapon is simply more refined. (And the sniper is a much better shot.)

We cannot have our politicians being vulnerable to snipers like the peasants are! After all, they're more equal than the rest of us! sarcasm