This is a terrorist sleeper cell and not talent imported for a special job. They are settled in for a long haul and not a brief blaze of glory. Thats why there has been no "signature" on the effort. They're fighting a war on the enemy's home soil....and they have studied us in great detail. This first spree is a probe trying to see how we'll react, what resources we'll call into play and they still are getting maximum bang for minimum buck. The area of the shooting is just about paralyzed. Psychologically and economically.
Look up the precepts for waging a good guerilla war. Try the Special Forces Operational Handbook for starters. There are other books too. PaladinPress.com has a bunch of titles. SNIPER type attacks are right at the top of the list. Pure terrorism 24/7 instead of a grand mal event which is over and done with except the grieving and anger. The WTC for example. The fear up there is palpable and growing. They must be crowing that CNN and the liberal media are still showing them as the whacko lone gunman. I think there is a liberal agenda at work there. This has the effect of keeping gun control suddenly fashionable again since it cost Gore the White House.
A lot of folks are asking if this is Al Queda, why haven't other cities been targeted too? Why hasn't the CIA or DIA picked up chatter in the coffee shops of the middle east? Lots of possible reasons. The most important is that once a cell is activated it acts according to preset plans or on its own. IF this is on its own, bet that other cells will get the idea if its successful. Also, other areas of the country are not as conducive to exfiltration since they may not have the confluence of intersecting major roadways available. Finally, if these guys have been here for years...then the middle east will not be buzzing...they won't know. We do know that Al Queda trains for this type of attack...
These guys have been trained at least a little bit. They are pretty good at infiltration and exfiltration. They're rehearsing and reconning. They know about security cameras. NONE of those skills is something a wannabe Rambo can just pick up at the local range. Having a skill that's taught in a classroom somewhere and using it in a real situation are two different things. Using requires practical experience. The schools that do teach that are pretty selective on who gets the training and what the prior qualifications are. The other schools are rip-offs that take advantage of that Rambo syndrome in middle aged guys wishing to recapture their youth and WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN.
Something else.....the idea that it's easy to pick up the skills of a sniper even a little bit with a few hours range instruction is ridiculous. as a certified firearms instructor, I can teach you to be fairly expert with a HANDGUN in an afternoon but not a rifle! Not distance (even 100 meters) shooting. You can't just slap a scope on a rifle and go to town. The rifle has to be zeroed to the scope by the shooter (everybody holds a rifle slightly differently) and that process of zeroing has to take into account the bullet weight in grains, the TYPE of bullet configuration, the powder load, even the power of the scope and its own accuracy is tested. You have to understand bullet drop (one reason for the 223 it's a very flat shooting round and at 300 meters only drops about ten inches) and wind drift for gusty conditions. Thats one reason for no real distance shots over 300 meters....the thirty cal family is that used by TRUE snipers. Heavier bullets more range...but more drop and more report (noise) and more recoil which usually requires a bigger rifle. So you need more skill.
Lastly.....they say that this case is going to be broken by the public...and that is truer than you know. What are the odds that a cop will be on hand to stop these guys? nil. But there are nearly 100 MILLION law abiding gun owners and a whole lot of them have lawful permits to carry concealed weapons and a chunk of those are military vets and some of THOSE have seen combat or are SpecOps. Under the right conditions, these guys can be stopped cold by a lawfully armed citizen. The LEFT knows this...that is why they are feverishly trying to ram through as much gun control as they can before such an event occurs. Because once John Q. Public realizes any Joe Schmoe can stop it they'll run the gun banners out of town on a rail and deep six all the gun laws on the table.
I am EXTREMELY reluctant as a layman shooter to be differing with a certified firearms instructor. But the very concept that handguns are easier to master than rifles is so patently false as to be laughable. A mildly recoiling round like a .223 is not highly challengin. A bold action .223 with a scope can be learned to use with lethal effectiveness in one range session, especially if fired from the prone position or if using a support, as I assume this assassin is doing.
By contrast, some people can't ever seem to learn handgun trigger control or learn to control their flinch.
What authoritative proof can you supply to support your wildly false assertion that handgun proficiency can be swiftly taught while rifle proficiency is much harder to acquire.
Mao Tse-Tung, ON GUERRILLA WARFARE