The DC Sniper Nest: None Dare Call it Terrorism

Sierra Times ^ | Oct 7, 02 | Analysis by J.J. Johnson

[SLB]

This will be one of those articles our enemies will try to pick apart in order to make the accusation that the author actually condones what is happening around the nation's capital. It's expected, since it's one of the few ways the left knows how to deal with such a dilemma. Fact is: There have been at least 11 shootings, with 5 confirmed fatalities so far in the Washington DC area. Since despite all the police chest pounding, they probably won't find a suspect by the time this is article is published, there will probably be more.

In our new War on Terrorism, none dare call it that. So let's call it what it really is - war, and deal with it on those terms.

This of course, will make the spin meisters even more upset, since nothing - absolutely nothing since September 11, 2001 will be called terrorism. Not the American Airlines flight over New York City a year ago, not the string of oil refinery explosions, unexplained train derailments, not the nutcases attacking Greyhound bus drivers, and heaven forbid - that Anthrax thing was an anomaly, just like the West Nile Virus and the new cases of malaria popping up in the same area of the shooting. Just individual crazed lunatics mind you, not terrorism.

Meanwhile, the war continues.

If it hasn't dawned on you that this is an actual war in progress on our own soil (don't worry - it's not terrorism unless we tell you), take a look at the affect one lone sniper has had on the social infrastructure of the DC suburbs:

MARYLAND: Anne Arundel County Schools: . All schools locked . After-school activities canceled . After-school childcare will be provided . No evening high school classes . Indoor recess and activities

Baltimore City Schools: . No afternoon pre-kindergarten . No outdoor after-school athletic events; indoor events will be held

Calvert County Schools: . Students being kept inside schools . No after-school activities

Charles County Schools: . Heightened security . Students kept indoors . After-school activities canceled . Tuesday field trips canceled

Frederick County Schools: . Lockdown status . No students allowed outside

Howard County Schools: . Modified lockdown status . No afternoon kindergarten or special education . No outdoor recess or activities

Montgomery County Schools: . Code Blue status . No afternoon pre-k or kindergarten . Extra security in schools . All field trips canceled . Indoor recess and lunch . All after-school activities canceled

Prince George's County Schools: . Code Blue status . All outdoor activities canceled . Indoor recess and lunch . No outdoor after-school activities . No afternoon pre-kindergarten . All school doors monitored by security . Increased police presence in schools

Queen Anne's County Schools: . No after-school activities

DISTRICT: D.C. Schools: . No outdoor lunch or recess . No outdoor after-school activities . All field trips canceled

Archdiocese of Washington Schools: . No outdoor lunch or recess . No afternoon kindergarten or activities . Aftercare will be provided

VIRGINIA: Alexandria City Schools: . No outdoor recess or physical education classes . After-school activities canceled . Increased police presence for dismissals

Arlington County Schools: . All outdoor after-school activities canceled . Indoor after-school activities will be held

Caroline County Schools: . Outdoor activities canceled

Fairfax County Schools: . No outdoor activities

Falls Church City Schools: . Outdoor activities canceled . Police officers at each school

Fredericksburg City Schools: . Lockdown status . No after-school activities

King George County Schools: . Lockdown status

Loudoun County Schools: . Heightened state of alert . Outdoor activities at each principal's discretion

Manassas City Schools: . Limited lockdown status . No outdoor recess or activities

Prince William County Schools: . No outdoor after-school activities Monday or Tuesday

Spotsylvania County Schools: . Outdoor activities canceled

Stafford County Schools: . Outdoor activities canceled

Not bad for eleven rounds. Anyone want to take a guess how many of these students are children of federal employees? Now, let your brain spin. Here's a federal government planning for war, importing and exporting no goods on its western flank, and with a market in a steady freefall, and yet to even submit a budget this fiscal year. But none of that will be on their minds when they wake up - only: who's next?

Just like September 11 - brilliant war tactics. Then again, as any sniper can tell you, psychological terror is a bi-product of this time-tested, lethal art. The only thing America has going for it right now is that there is only one. Surely the profilers are trying to figure out some way of saying this lone gunman is some nut - some crazy white guy that gets a monthly high from reading Soldier of Fortune, probably hates the New World Order, and is of course, a believer in the Second Amendment, Turner Diaries, etc.. This profile (soon to come, I'm sure) will give some antigun nuts a second wind, attempting to get more gun legislation passed.

C'mon - you know this is coming, don't you?

Lest we forget that the state of Maryland already has some of the most draconian gun laws in the nation. And no gun law will slow down this sniper. In fact, only the opposite is true.

We're dealing with a professional, someone who is becoming pretty good at one shot - one kill. This person is not firing several shots at random, and is deadly accurate. Our shooter knows how to take the shot, then relocate. Some amateur could not be this skilled working behind enemy lines, if you will and, knowing there is a dragnet out there, still hit his mark at least 10 times. According to authorities, there is no common pattern with the victims that are being chosen. So if we said the only thing the victims do have in common is that none are Muslim, that would be a stretch, wouldn't it?

If what many people fear turns out to be the case ("sniper jihad"), catching this critter may be difficult, and a few more may have to die to get a bead on this SOB. Not being a sniper expert, I'd say it will take all we have inside us if and when the next round is fired. But I recall something about hitting the ground, and get a good look in the direction where you heard the sound. If it were a war zone, the next line would be lay down cover fire, and fire teams should keep their 'field of fire' in mind, but we don't want to turn the Washington Suburbs into Washington, DC, now would we?

Our little sniper is operating in an enemy environment, but he is also operating in a relatively 'safe' environment. You see, the fact that we really are at war is a concept too many people haven't taken seriously yet, especially in east coast, antigun bastions such as suburban DC. Hence, only time will tell when suddenly concealed carry laws are lifted (or simply not enforced), so that the soldiers in this new war (the citizens), may have the means of neuturalizing such threats upon discovery.

Go ahead. Call me extreme. But attending all those funerals will get old real fast. Legislators can pass all the laws they want, but no police chief or sheriff wants to spend the rest of is time in office counting innocent bodies. I'd suggest the local police make a few inquires to the Pentagon on how to deal with this problem, not the FBI or ATF. No, I'm not calling for military intervention, but gathering background information on someone that clearly has a military background.

To put it bluntly, we've have a region of the country on the verge of societal shut down. The pundits prefer calling this a lone nut than dealing with the obvious.

This person is not a 'right-wing' lunatic. This person is not a terrorist. This is a solider - waging war on our own soil.

[Travis McGee]

The test of his skill is that he is still loose.

[Travis McGee]

Suppressors (no such thing exists as a true "silencer") can acutally improve accuracy, but they will give the barrel a different zero than without a suppressor.

[Travis McGee]

Or just a shooter/driver.

The sniper may be laughing at all the attention on white vans, since he may have left the area on a ten speed bike or in a VW bug.

[antivenom]

Kid who received a "varmit rifle" as a gift...and has a spiffy scope...probably a scope that is worth more than the rifle...

[Travis McGee]

Very possible this is a message to our leaders, a test of our response, and pure practice.

The addresses of our leaders are an open book in this era of internet searches of public records.

[Mr. Mojo]

Interesting.....Do suppressors improve accuracy at all distances?

[Travis McGee]

A very good suppressor on a .223 brings it down to the sound of an air rifle with no loss of accuracy.

A bad home made suppressor will bring the sound down to that of a .22 short.

Of course, there is still 'sonic crack' but that does NOT point to the shooter.

[kinghorse]

Delbert don't challenge the guy to come to your state. Guns are a pretty worthless deterrent in this case.

I'll amend my prior doomsaying by suggesting that if this is what I think it is, the Feds are probably in contact with the backers of the shooter and are considering the offer on the table. That's my guess. I wanted to scream at the tube earlier when Fox had some profiling "expert" explain why this couldn't be an armed attack by a ME soldier because someone would have already claimed the "glory". Wrong dude. Whoever is doing this will keep it on the QT to see what the Feds are willing to concede to make it stop.

I suspect our leadership will go ahead with their plan concerning Iraq regardless of the domestic terror we will be forced to endure. All the fence sitters in that region of the world are about to get knocked from their perch. If the enemy wants to randomly kill some Americans (through crude and disgustingly heartless means) in exchange for a systematic annihilation of their powerbase of personnel, I guess that's a call for them to make. The West will take a tweaking, even a knee to the groin, but eventually the troops muster and go about the business of annihilation. It's a grand tradition, made apparent to our adversaries in the battles fought and won by Alexander over Darius to the one sided slaughter by Cortez and his stirrupped Conquistadors over the hapless Indian. I hope Saddam and sons have their personal effects in order. If I understood the President correctly in his speech, I think they are about to be made an example of.

[Travis McGee]

NOT all suppressors improve accuracy, only very good ones built to exacting tolerances. But the sighting in MUST be done with the suppressor attached, so if one is used, the shooter cannot zero it at a public range. OTOH, with a suppressor, one can practice in any open field.

I don't believe a suppressor is required though. It could be muffled by shooting from inside a van for example.

IMO, the sniper spends 75%% his time looking back at escape routes, 20% looking around at isolated spots to shoot from with no one around, and only 5% looking at victims. He is looking at this problem at escape first, then when he has found a spot where he can get off a shot in safety with a slick back door (near major highways etc) and then he takes a shot at ANYONE who comes in his sights.

[kinghorse]

You keep referring to a "him". The weapon of choice can be easily manipulated with deadly results by either sex. There are plenty of psychotics of either gender from certain enclaves of the ME. Israel and surrounding Indian Country can lay claim to many female jihadi eager to slip into this country on a student visa.

[who knows what evil?]

Ran across an interesting quote today: "Within ten years, Americans will wake up to the presence of an Islamic army in their midst." (Sounds like that 'trojan horse' you're always refering to.) The quote is from a Pakistani cleric by the name of Fazul Rehman (circa 1998). Has anyone ever heard of this guy?

[Travis McGee]

The sniper could be a hunchbacked Moldovan midget, but the odds are against it.

[Travis McGee]

Ever heard of that guy WKWE mentioned?

[Rifleman]

Re: long gun and handgun. Roy Bean was right, but I never said it would be safe. This is a situation where the personal hazard is less important than stopping this scum.

Your mindset is the right one in this case. Sometimes it is just your turn in the barrel.

[ladyinred]

WOW! I guess this article about sums up my worst fears about what is and has been going on.

[who knows what evil?]

Ever heard of that guy WKWE mentioned?

Trying to determine whether this character holds any position of power or influence in Islamic circles, or whether he's just another in a series of insignificant, yapping dogs. Thanks for pinging those who may be "in the know".

[takenoprisoner]

Surely the profilers are trying to figure out some way of saying this lone gunman is some nut - some crazy white guy that gets a monthly high from reading Soldier of Fortune, probably hates the New World Order, and is of course, a believer in the Second Amendment, Turner Diaries, etc.. This profile (soon to come, I'm sure) will give some antigun nuts a second wind, attempting to get more gun legislation passed.

And when the profilers and the execs are done, the shooter will be just as described...even if they have to create him, try him, and fry him as the scapegoat he shall become.

[Lessismore]

Of course, there is still 'sonic crack' but that does NOT point to the shooter.

I would think that the sonic crack of the .223 would be significantly less than the sonic crack of a .30 at the same velocity. This would be another reason to choose a smaller caliber.

[Grampa Dave]

Can a suppressor like this one on a single shot .223 pistol improve accuracy and dampen the sound down at the same time?

[ladyinred]

I am confused. I keep hearing the shots are coming from rather far distances. The terrorists are training for these kinds of attacks, and are all pretty much sniper qualified once they finish.