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Based on the Early Reports, the Las Vegas Shooting Is Very, Very Strange
National Review ^ | 10-2-2017 | DAVID FRENCH

Posted on 10/03/2017 3:31:00 AM PDT by servo1969

As virtually everyone has noted from the abundant video footage of the incident, it certainly sounds as if the shooter used either fully-automatic weapons or semi-automatic weapons modified (through, for example, a bump fire stock) to closely simulate automatic fire. Moreover, the police are reporting that he had “more than 10 rifles.” He apparently rented his corner room for days and may have even set up cameras to detect when police were approaching. That’s all strange enough, but it’s even more unusual when you consider that his own family apparently didn’t know that he maintained a stockpile of guns.

[snip]

Put all this together, and the shooting is flat-out bizarre. It’s significantly different from virtually any other mass shooting in U.S. history. If the weapons were fully automatic, then he likely would have spent immense sums of money to obtain them legally, jumping through extensive legal hoops.

[snip]

So, a person who’s “not a gun guy” has either expended untold thousands of dollars to legally purchase fully-automatic weapons, somehow found them on the black market, or purchased and substantially modified multiple semi-automatic weapons — and did so with enough competence to create a sustained rate of fire. This same person also spent substantial sums purchasing just the right hotel room to maximize casualties.

[snip]

Given the firepower and the packed mass of people, it’s easy to see how the casualty count was so high, even firing from an extreme range (by the standards of mass shootings.) This was the University of Texas tower attack on steroids, conducted out of nowhere, with meticulous planning and at great expense, from a person who doesn’t seem to fit any normal profile of a mass shooter. There is much we have yet to learn, but for now, this is one of the most chilling and mysterious events I’ve ever seen.

(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: ammoniumnitrate; banglist; casino; casinoplots; lasvegas; lasvegascell; paddock; stephenpaddock
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To: BlackAdderess

But, as I stated on another thread, going back to basics: Do we have video of the perp actually firing the shots with the weapon the claim he was using?


301 posted on 10/03/2017 8:08:14 AM PDT by jimjohn (2nd American Civil War: ongoing since January 20, 2017.)
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To: SamAdams76

I doubt there’s any amount of money you could pay a crisis actor to sing the anthem.


302 posted on 10/03/2017 8:08:41 AM PDT by bgill (CDC site, "We don't know how people are infected with Ebola.")
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To: tuffydoodle

You mean why did he pick a Country Western concert as his target?


303 posted on 10/03/2017 8:12:48 AM PDT by bray (Pray for President Trump)
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To: OKSooner
full auto belt fed

No!

AR15s either illegally converted (auto sear_M16 disconnect,M16 bolt), or legally bump fire with 60/90 round surefire mags, 100 round beta c mags, 90 round rotary SK army junk drums, and 75 round AK/RPK drums I said early on..

304 posted on 10/03/2017 8:15:20 AM PDT by DCBryan1 (No realli, moose bytes can be quite nasti!)
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie
The MSM needs to give up on guns, they never get the facts right.

This morning, CNN said you have to have a permit to buy guns off the black market. You're telling me that's not true?

305 posted on 10/03/2017 8:16:42 AM PDT by bgill (CDC site, "We don't know how people are infected with Ebola.")
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To: nfldgirl

His brother is hiding his political connections. Why would the only time he talked to him was after the hurricane asking bout his mom? Why wouldn’t he call unless they weren’t speaking and couldn’t stand him?

Probably got tired of his Trump rants or Islam???


306 posted on 10/03/2017 8:18:02 AM PDT by bray (Pray for President Trump)
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To: DCBryan1
AR15s either illegally converted (auto sear_M16 disconnect,M16 bolt), or legally bump fire with 60/90 round surefire mags, 100 round beta c mags, 90 round rotary SK army junk drums, and 75 round AK/RPK drums I said early on..

Based on the pictures from inside the room, also AK's, but still nothing very exotic or hard to come by, as you stated.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4944234/Two-23-rifles-inside-Stephen-Paddock-s-room.html
307 posted on 10/03/2017 8:18:12 AM PDT by TexasGunLover ("Either you're with us or you're with the terrorists."-- President George W. Bush)
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To: Bulwyf
I’ve already said in my professional opinion that the heavy fire I heard was 100% belt fed gpmg.

No, illegal full auto and legal, simulated bump fire like just like I said early on..

Notice the surefire 90 in the AR platform semi auto rifle....has a slidefire stock on it. There is your 90 rounds. I could tell it was a slide fire the first time I heard it, and then I thought the cyclic rate was waning up and down, and inconsistent.

True belt fed GMPGs don't wane and change cyclic rate unless the ammo sucks. Ive only heard that in my RPK with wolf/tula ammo that was stored in a humid FL garage.

308 posted on 10/03/2017 8:18:33 AM PDT by DCBryan1 (No realli, moose bytes can be quite nasti!)
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To: DCBryan1

Thanks for the info. Is there a grassy knoll in the area?


309 posted on 10/03/2017 8:19:45 AM PDT by Terry Mross (Liver spots And blood thinners.)
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To: yldstrk
600 people shot, that is not one shooter.

Not impossible since they were packed in like sardines.

Now, one dumpy 64 year old shooter running back and forth between vantage points 10 windows apart...

310 posted on 10/03/2017 8:20:33 AM PDT by bgill (CDC site, "We don't know how people are infected with Ebola.")
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To: TexasGunLover

Paul Joseph Watson‏Verified account @PrisonPlanet-

This may have been why the police initially thought at least 2 shooters.


311 posted on 10/03/2017 8:21:05 AM PDT by STARLIT (Draining the Swamp includes Draining the Sewer.)
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To: bgill

It’s an Oxymoron.


312 posted on 10/03/2017 8:25:04 AM PDT by ImJustAnotherOkie
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To: bigtoona
Why is there only 1 blurry photo of this guy with his eyes shut?

Because he's a 64 year old guy who doesn't have FB or a half dozen grandkids to in pictures with and plaster the internet with.

313 posted on 10/03/2017 8:30:36 AM PDT by bgill (CDC site, "We don't know how people are infected with Ebola.")
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To: bgill
You can tell it's a bump stock by the gap in the grip. He also used a compensator not a flash suppressor. It redirects the sounds back into the room and reduces recoil. I think this is an AR10 (.308) A 223 has issues at 500 yds.


314 posted on 10/03/2017 8:32:03 AM PDT by ImJustAnotherOkie
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To: NIKK

He was using a compensator so the sound echoed back into the room and back out again.


315 posted on 10/03/2017 8:32:43 AM PDT by ImJustAnotherOkie
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To: DCBryan1
Okay. Like I said, I had no way of knowing for sure, just describing the sound.

A bump fire stock and some big magazines... just like you said.

Fine with me.

316 posted on 10/03/2017 8:32:51 AM PDT by OKSooner
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To: servo1969

I think the difficulty of the attack is vastly overstated.

Anyone who can watch YouTube and use basic tools (a screwdriver or similar) can install a bump fire stock or file down the appropriate part to turn an AR-10 or AR-15 into full-auto.

If he wanted to wallow in his insane fantasy for a year before doing it, that was plenty of time to buy moderate amounts of whatever he wanted once a month. Again, setting up small webcams for the hallway is trivial. YouTube and a little money would be enough. He didn’t even need much money if he bought one for practice and then bought the rest in the last month so he wouldn’t have to pay the credit card bill. His female “partner” would have known he had guns, but she might not have considered it strange, particularly if they were in a gun safe so she didn’t know how their number might have changed.

He would not have needed “immense sums of money” to modify weapons to a rate of fire comparable to full-automatic legally, and no money at all to do it illegally (again, see YouTube for instructions). He also would not have needed any special skills for the modification. Anyone can use a file or a screwdriver. And the cost of the room? Whether the casino comped him for his big bets or he put it on a credit card he had no intention of paying, the cost of the room was irrelevant to him. He just had to choose the right room, and that would have been easy with the Internet.

Extreme range? For an AR-10 .308 or an AR-15 .223, the range was not unreasonable. Shooting at a concert at that range is like hitting the broad side of a barn door at 25 feet. He couldn’t choose individual targets, but he could not do that with full-auto in any case. He had 20,000 targets in a tight group, so he was guaranteed a lot of hits. I don’t see meticulous planning or great expense relative to his gambling or his airplanes, just a crazy person who probably spent all year building a fantasy, before acting on it.

This is chilling, but I don’t see it as mysterious. I also (probably) don’t see a conspiracy here. I have no reason to doubt that we have the right shooter. No, he’s not a patsy, where the real shooter slipped out after firing through the door at the police and security guard in the hall. No, the real shooter was not on another floor. No, there is no real evidence of a second shooter. Perhaps he was nudged into doing this by the former “partner”, by ISIS, by Antifa, or by some other group of anti-American terrorists, but he could just have easily have gotten to that level of insanity on his own.

The press might hide little details like the fact that he is almost certainly a registered democrat. The press might hide little details like the heroics of normal (conservative) Americans. But beyond that, I don’t see much room for deception here, just for their classic anti-gun spin.


317 posted on 10/03/2017 8:34:29 AM PDT by Pollster1 ("Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed")
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To: OKSooner

Better run out and get yours now. You just know Congress critters will ban them. I had an akins unit until ATF banned it AFTER approving it.....I didn’t want to piss away funds on slidefire, but am reconsidering it since it is a pretty solid piece of kit......for a rainy day....on a boat.....in the middle of a river.....accident prone.


318 posted on 10/03/2017 8:34:58 AM PDT by DCBryan1 (No realli, moose bytes can be quite nasti!)
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To: Pollster1

Exactly, and the target area had 22,000 targets. This is as straightforward as it could be. 1 shooter, no exotic weapons... just a nut and lots of hemmed in targets.


319 posted on 10/03/2017 8:36:56 AM PDT by TexasGunLover ("Either you're with us or you're with the terrorists."-- President George W. Bush)
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie

Thank you for this information.


320 posted on 10/03/2017 8:40:35 AM PDT by STARLIT (Draining the Swamp includes Draining the Sewer.)
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