Posted on 10/08/2002 11:34:37 AM PDT by 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.
Stay Safe , Armed and CYA SLB !!
Only a fool would try to take on a rifle with a handgun at long range; but you overlook the fact that some determined citizen may actually witness the sniper; possibly be nearby as the sniper attempts to leave the scene; and take him out. Sui
Was listening to Roger Hedgecock yammer on earlier about this being a terrorist act, when to me it doesn't really fit the general profile of terrorism, as opposed to one loon out there shooting at people.
Yeah, the shooter is inducing terror, but it's unlikely that that is his(?) goal as such. It's far more likely that the shooter is just plain freaking nuts, along the lines of that guy who shot up the US Capitol some years back.
It seems that whenever bona-fide terrorists strike, they do it in areas where there are gonna be lots of people, to maximize the death and destruction caused - airports (or airplanes), shopping centers, office buildings, and suchlike. This individual is shooting at single targets, one at a time. Were he interested in killing many at once, it doesn't appear that it would take a lot of extra effort on his part.
Then there's also the fact that terrorist attacks are discrete events - that is, each one is its own entity, without regard to whether similar attacks precede or follow.
Regards,
Snidely
Clueless.
Could be terrorism. Could also be "shark attack syndrome." In case anyone has forgotten, "shark attack syndrome" is when the media reports every shark attack, thereby suggesting that the number of attacks is rising, when in fact, the number of attacks is statistically the same as previous years. Do we know, for example, whether more oil refinery fires and train derailments have occurred in the last year than during the prior years or have they just been reported more or are we just paying better attention to the reports? How many Greyhound bus drivers have been attacked in the last year as compared to previous years? What is the frequency of malaria in the outbreak areas? And while the West Nile Virus outbreak seems suspicious, it has been around my state for at least two years now and the number of human victims pales compared to your basic influenza outbreak.
Don't get me wrong. I love to speculate as much as the next Freeper, but lets not ignore statistical reason in the process.
Indeed it is. I came to the authors conclusion on day 3....
/1/ Flat shooting, easy and fast to sight and hit at his max ranges (under 400 yards).
/2/ In HP, a devastating round, if you think not, you have not seen any wounds caused by a 3,000fps varmint rifle.
/3/ Muzzle blast is MUCH less than .308 etc, for better getaway. Also, MUCH easier to suppress, either with a pro or homemade can suppressor, or by using a van etc as a macro suppressor.
/4/ Don't rule out a rifle caliber pistol such as a Contender, which can and do shoot 3" groups at 500 yards in good hands from a rest. Even an amateur with a Contender and an 8X scope could hit 18" human targets at 300 yards using an open car window as a rest. Piece of cake, 19 out of 20 boy scouts could shoot that well after 20 practice shots.
An Al Qaeda sniper would aim to kill as many Americans as possible before his own death. If he were to choose an area of of relaxed CCW laws, he might not kill nearly as many before he's caught (or killed) as he would in a strict gun control area (like Maryland).
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