Did The Vegas Shooter Use A Fully Automatic Weapon?

hot air ^ | 10-2-17

[doug from upland]

Opinion is divided this morning on Twitter among people who, unlike me, know more than the most basic basics about firearms. It’s not a matter of mere curiosity; as you (should) know, fully automatic weapons have been illegal in the U.S. for decades, which is why even mass shooters hellbent on murder unto death never use them. If Stephen Paddock used a machine gun, how on earth did he get it?

[Sopater]

Any exposure I’ve had to bump fire stocks shows they are highly inaccurate.

True, but how accurate do you need to be to hit a crowd of 22,000 people from the 32nd floor of a hotel room?

[HamiltonJay]

I believe the actual count is 3 legally owned fully autos have been used in any crime since 1934...

To have a license for a fully automatic weapon is an expensive process, that basically requires extensive background checks, lots of money and you agree that the feds can show up at your door at any time and demand to see your weapons or go to jail.

Based on the audio alone its clear the weapon(s) used were fully automatic... whether built that way or converted I don’t know... based on the fact it seems there were bouts of fire, silence and then more bouts of fire, seems to imply the complete unloading of a magazine or clip, a reload, or weapon change, and another ... didn’t sound like a few shots , then a re-aim, a few more automatic shots... etc etc...Almost as if, once the trigger was pulled it could not be stopped until the clip was empty... but that’s just conjecture....

Time will tell what exactly happened, but the odds that this animal was using legal guns is next to nil. Is it possible he had a federal license to own fully automatic weapons? Yes... is it likely? very much not likely.

[xzins]

That’s fast.

[trebb]

Listening to some of the sound bites, it sounded like full automatic with at least 50 round magazines. Nobody can rapid-squeeze a trigger to that effect.

[backwoods-engineer]

Wouldn’t the barrels have melted or distorted by the end of his string of shots?

Admit it: you've never shot a semiautomatic rifle, have you? Never done a mag dump before?

No, it wouldn't have MELTED. I've seen a BAR (look it up) fire until the barrel was cherry red, and keep firing. Go to Knob Creek sometime if you want to learn about full auto.

[rarestia]

Limited income though? I can think of better things to do with a $20k-$30k, if they’re legally-obtained select fire rifles.

[Sopater]

My question is, how did he get all of that into the hotel? Do places like this allow people to bring in guns, have no detection/security system etc. ? (I don’t travel much or stay in places like that, so I don’t know about them.)

Every hotel that I know of allows you to bring in guns.

[lgjhn23]

“...If Stephen Paddock used a machine gun, how on earth did he get it?...”

Either provided by ISIS or the UniParty.

[HamiltonJay]

Agreed, this isn’t a guy with a high power rifle on a tower snipering at pedestrians below with a bold action rifle... this is just point in the general direction and fire... fish in a barrel.

The goal here was maximum carnage quickly, no skill or talent required.

[backwoods-engineer]

Same here. I ALWAYS have my weapons with me on trips, and sometimes travel with a rifle. None of ANYONE’S business.

[Jarhead9297]

QQ.....I remember in the Corps an M16 pin could be sheared making it fully auto (if ever caught of course screwed beyond belief)....is it possible with today’s AR 15 the same could be done?

[trebb]

I have to admit that if he injured over 500 and killed over 50, you would think the barrel would be a blob of molten steel, though.

They say he had 10 weapons. I saw a YouTube video of a guy running 100 round magazines through a AK-47 - before the 3rd one was empty, the stock caught fire but the weapon was still firing, so it's unlikely he used the same weapon for the whole duration.

[SandRat]

The answer to that question and the answer to Ware there other shooters and who were they, as well as what was the caliber of the weapon, will be known as reliability and as quick as the real answers to who shot Pres Kennedy are.

[al baby]

It appears he used two rooms spaced farther apart than a joining we aint being told the truth yet again

[Sopater]

LV local news reported that the perp had 10 automatic weapons and 2000 rounds in the hotel room.

A comment section on one of local TV live stream websites said that the perp fired over 700 rounds.

Smoke from the weapon(s) were so much that it set off smoke alarms and that helped LEOs locate the exact room sooner.

Withholding judgement for the time being, but am initially inclined to believe "fake news".

[Sopater]

I have yet to see a hotel check to see what is in your bag.

If they wanted to, I would turn around and leave.

[backwoods-engineer]

That’s some impressive shooting. Is this screwed-up 65 year old guy capable of the same? I have my doubts.

I have shot with 75-year-old men and 11-year old GIRLS who are capable of better shooting than that.

Go to a competitive pistol or rifle meet sometime.

[precisionshootist]

"Listen VERY closely to the audio. No manufactured fully auto weapon has a variable rate such as the one produced in the videos I have seen. My guess is he is using a semi auto weapon slide fed with a bumper thus rendering the gun fully auto. Once you pull off that first round you can stop until the rounds are expended"

I concur. You can clearly hear the rate of fire slow then speed up in a choppy manner in the later shots. However the very first part of the audio there is a ten second burst with a very steady rate of fire. That burst sounds like a belt fed to me. He may have had one belt fed in one location then moved to the other and used a slide fire/bump fire stock or other full auto simulator. Shooter was almost certainly changing weapons during the shooting.

[Prolixus]

I'd never heard of a "slide feed" before but the audio from last night's shooting sounds very much like the audio of this "slide feed" demonstration: check-out-the-semi-automatic-rifle-with-machine-gun-like-rapid-fire-and-its-legal.

[TexasFreeper2009]

Meh, it’s amazing what you can buy if you have no intention of paying for it.

I bet I have over $100,000 in credit sitting on unused cards sitting in my desk growing dust.