Montgomery county shootings....

[Dr Mordrid]

As you may or may not know there is a sniper running around the Washington DC area shooting people with a .223 rifle.

The .223 round uses a small projectile, but because of its high velocity it's a powerful and highly accurate round at long ranges. It's primarily used in U.S. military rifles (AR-15 & M-16), hunting weapons intended for shooting varmits (woodchucks etc. are often shot at 200-400 yards) and competition target rifles.

This would be a highly unusual weapon for gang-bangers and organized crime types to be using, so those angles are very unlikely.

Details;

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,64959,00.html

This whole thing took a turn for the worse today when a 13 year old boy was shot twice (once each in the chest & abdomen) when his aunt dropped him off at middle school in nearby Bowie, Maryland.

The police are now characterizing the incidents as "terroristic", but won't say the magic words: "acts of terrorism"

Still thinking about those al Qaeda traing tapes they found near Tora Bora. They instructed in drive-by's in general and had sections instructing in how to attack schools.

Dr. Mordrid

[Dogbert]

Whoever the person responisble for the shootings and whatever his 'motives' are. I hope they catch him soon and lock him to rot behind bars.
He doesn't deserve the death penalty, he should suffer so much he begs for it.

[Dr Mordrid]

Nawww...death is fine as long as some torture is involved.

Dr. Mordrid

[agallag]

I vote for "death by cheese grater".

[ZokesPro]

I think that death is an easy way out.

If you can make someones life miserable to the point where they beg for death than that is far worse than"death" itself.

But I'm not the one who is going to judge this persons fate if they are caught!

[efty]

Is it that easy to get a military grade rifle in the US? He must be shooting from quite a distance and had extensive training to be able to do so!!!. I was lucky to get 5 out of 10 on the target from 400m away during my army training!

[KRSESQ]

The AR-15 is the semi-automatic civilian version of the military M-16. It can pop off a round as fast as you can pull the trigger. Very accurate and deadly, especially in the hands of someone with more than a little marksman training. Several thousand of the things are in private hands in the US, 99.99% of them perfectly well-behaved sport rifles. It's the .01% that misbehave like this that gives the anti-gun lobby all their ammunition.

Kevin

[thop]

can every person in the US legaly buy a gun? i mean obviously those with criminal records cant but do you need some training or sth.?

[thop]

yeah i know, but when you go in the gun shop what do you have to do. do you just say: "oh i like that pistol over there, how much is it?", "150$ sir", "ok gimme two then, just in case."
and there's your gun, or do you have to show some papers, id or anything like that?

edit: hey zokes wheres your post, mine doesnt make much sense without yours zokes said it says so in their constitution.

[Wombat]

You have to go through a background check, but that doesn't take too long. There's usually a waiting period, 48hrs or a week, or whatever, depending on the state.

[Joel]

But that only effects the law abiding citizen because the criminal is not going to get his by legal means.

There is an old saying over here, "If you outlaw guns only outlaws will have guns.".

Gun control laws do not effect those who break the law anyway.

Joel

[efty]

There is an old saying over here, "If you outlaw guns only outlaws will have guns.".

Whatever the case is, are there any official studies on the matter. Is there a relationship with crimes involving the use of guns with the legal ownership of a gun?

Furthmore are aliens, eg students or foreign workers, allowed to buy a gun??

[az]

I remember a line, I think it was in Terminator 2 (or 1? can't remember), where arnie goes into a weapons shop and checks out some very big automatic gun, and the shop owner says "It's perfect for self protection"...

AFAIK, automatic guns were outlawed some time ago, weren't they?

AZ

[thop]

reminds me of a line in futurama, where the professor approaches someone from the national rifle association, they have a short chat about weapons and then the guy says sth. like: "or my mutated anthrax ... (whispers) for duck hunting!"

[ZokesPro]

Originally posted by thop
yeah i know, but when you go in the gun shop what do you have to do. do you just say: "oh i like that pistol over there, how much is it?", "150$ sir", "ok gimme two then, just in case."
and there's your gun, or do you have to show some papers, id or anything like that?

edit: hey zokes wheres your post, mine doesnt make much sense without yours zokes said it says so in their constitution.

Sorry about that. I wasn't sure if it was in their constitution so I deleted the post.

Edit: Isn't there also a 5 day waiting period?