Mass Shooting in Colorado

Originally posted by Oliver North

EDIT: The VT shooter had diagnosed mental health issues...

As did the shooter at University of Illinois. Both should have never been capable of legally purchasing a weapon. Actually, I think that the shooter in AZ purchased his legally as well.

Originally posted by Oliver North
apparently the shooter purchased 6000 rounds of ammo in the past 60 days

Red flag of the year there, but if he purchased it online and from multiple brick and mortars then there would have been nothing to be done because AFAIK there's no tracking of ammunition sales. Even if he'd bought a multitude of guns in the past few months private sales aren't tracked either, at least not in any states that I know of off-hand.

Originally posted by Ascendancy
As did the shooter at University of Illinois. Both should have never been capable of legally purchasing a weapon. Actually, I think that the shooter in AZ purchased his legally as well.

In almost all of these types of shootings the guns are purchased legally, for sure. I guess my point was more about what you were saying about fame. It is somewhat hard to look at a seriously ill person and determine what it was, if anything, that motivated them.

I'm just saying, be cautious, otherwise it is kind of like saying Son of Sam proves America has a culture that listens too much to dogs.

Originally posted by Ascendancy
Red flag of the year there, but if he purchased it online and from multiple brick and mortars then there would have been nothing to be done because AFAIK there's no tracking of ammunition sales. Even if he'd bought a multitude of guns in the past few months private sales aren't tracked either, at least not in any states that I know of off-hand.

But Obama is coming to get your guns!!!!

just to throw it out there, Wiki is always fantastic for these unfolding events (with a grain of salt, of course), corrects even some things said earlier in this thread:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Aurora_shooting

This is why living in the Colorado suburbs is terrible. Growing up there it's like the endless rows of clone tract housing (the American equivalent of communist matchbox apartments), the dry and high altitude, the featureless prarie, the ample supply of guns and drugs, and the general ****ed attitude of people and ample hate grouops creates these monsters. Even coming to visit for a prolonged time to certain towns will **** you up. Just a reminder that several spree killers (including this one), Dick Cheney, Condaleeza Rice, Sayed Qutb (the father of Muslim Terrorism), James Watt, and Tim Allen and Jake Lloyd(not as bad, but definitely a plague on acting) all were born or studied in the Colorado suburbs.

I was going to say, your description did remind me of Qutb, lol

Originally posted by Darth Jello
ban all fire arms that aren't pump action or single action?

This is one of my biggest issues with the firearms debate. One side actually knows about the topic and the other really doesn't seem to (the barrel shroud is not "the thing that goes up" for example). The AR-15 he was using had a single-action trigger.

is it still an AR-15 if it can be put in single action mode? I thought the M16 was the select fire version?

EDIT: whoops, should have checked wiki first, there are old select fire versions of the AR

EDIT2: there is also the fact one of the weapons the man had was a police style Remington shotgun:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remington_Model_870

Originally posted by Oliver North
is it still an AR-15 if it can be put in single action mode? I thought the M16 was the select fire version?

See now that's not what single-action means.

Single action describes how the trigger works and means, basically, that the hammer or striker is not readied by the trigger at any stage. This is true on the AR, a charging handle positions the striker for the first shot and the gas system positions it for subsequent shots.

I assume that you're thinking of "semiautomatic" vs "full automatic" and DJ meant to ban all weapons that don't have a manual action (presumably thinking of old single-action revolvers that needed to be cocked between every shot).

ah, ya, my mistake 🙂

(though, I meant more being able to switch between a single bullet fire per trigger pull and multiple... I didn't think a rifle could be turned into a fully automatic weapon without some intense conversion... I could totally be wrong again though)

EDIT: erm, nevermind, I was confused again

Originally posted by Oliver North
EDIT2: there is also the fact one of the weapons the man had was a police style Remington shotgun:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remington_Model_870

Missed this.

I'm not totally clear on what "police style" means. According to the link there's a model called "police" but that doesn't necessarily mean only police can buy it since the same company sells a "special operations" stock to the public.

Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
Missed this.

I'm not totally clear on what "police style" means. According to the link there's a model called "police" but that doesn't necessarily mean only police can buy it since the same company sells a "special operations" stock to the public.

oh, I mean it is designed more for combat/police/etc rather than hunting

I'm not even saying it shouldn't be available for purchase, just pointing out that the "everything but pump action or single action" ban wouldn't have taken away any of the shooter's weapons

I think the issue with a gun like the AR-15 is that its ammunition is all but useless for big game hunting and rifles aren't generally home defense weapons so there's no reason why civilians should be allowed to buy them.

It's just a hard problem to fix. As mentioned, private sales are not tracked. Regardless, I agree with a push to have more thorough background checks. Maybe the Tech, UI, and others still would have gotten their hands on weapons, but the odds of them doing something to get themselves caught beforehand would have been much higher.

It's interesting to me that people accept that both the Federal and state governments require that you register your vehicle, home, etc with them but flip out when there's any talk of mandatory registration of firearms. The paranoia of some is beyond my understanding.

Originally posted by Oliver North
apparently the shooter purchased 6000 rounds of ammo in the past 60 days

I never understood why buying ammo isn't monitored as much or more-so than the guns.

Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
This is one of my biggest issues with the firearms debate. One side actually knows about the topic and the other really doesn't seem to (the barrel shroud is not "the thing that goes up" for example). The AR-15 he was using had a single-action trigger.

To be fair though, if a ban goes through no one really needs to know about the topic ...

Originally posted by Oliver North
I was going to say, your description did remind me of Qutb, lol

That same town has often had the highest rate of violent crime and murder in the state.

Originally posted by Robtard
I never understood why buying ammo isn't monitored as much or more-so than the guns.

Exactly.

You can be a gun enthusiast your entire life without owning a single bullet. If anything, the purchase of ammo, especially such an extravagant amount, is the red flag.

Police: Colo. Shooting Suspect Bought Guns Legally

...

"All the weapons that he possessed, he possessed legally," Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates said. "And all the clips that he possessed, he possessed legally. And all the ammunition that he possessed, he possessed legally."

The four weapons recovered following the shootings that killed 12 and left nearly 60 people injured at a suburban Denver theater were purchased by the suspect from retail gun stores in Colorado in the last two months, authorities said Friday.

...

Larry Whiteley, a Bass Pro Shops spokesman, said records show that its Denver store followed federal rules in selling a shotgun and a Glock pistol to Holmes.

"Background checks, as required by federal law, were properly conducted, and (Holmes) was approved," Whiteley said in a statement.

Gander Mountain, which sold an AR-15 assault rifle believed to be used in the shootings at a movie theater in Aurora, said the company was in compliance with state and federal laws and that it was "fully cooperating with this ongoing investigation."

A second federal law enforcement official said Holmes had a high-capacity ammunition magazine in the assault rifle. Oates said a 100-round drum magazine was recovered at the scene.

The type of ammunition magazine Holmes is accused of using was banned for new production under the old federal assault weapon ban, said Daniel Vice, senior attorney for the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

When the ban expired in 2004, gun manufacturers flooded the market with the type of high-capacity magazines Holmes used Friday, Vice said.

...

Oates said Holmes purchased ammunition over the Internet, including thousands of rounds and multiple magazines for the assault rifle.

Authorities have said that Holmes had on an all-black ensemble of protective gear at the time of the shooting. An online seller of tactical police gear told the St. Louis Dispatch (http://bit.ly/Pssg9H) that it sold more than $300 of equipment, such as an assault vest, magazine pouches and a knife, to Holmes on July 2.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/police-colo-shooting-suspect-bought-guns-legally-16826588#.UAr-eLSe68A

Authorities hopeful all major threats eliminated in Colorado movie theater massacre suspect's apartment

Authorities say they were successful in disarming a second trip wire and are hopeful that all major threats have been eliminated in the booby-trapped apartment of the suspect in a deadly shooting spree at an Aurora, Colo., movie theater.

...

Aurora police Sgt. Cassidee Carlson says the booby trap trip wire was "meant to kill," the first person who opened the door to the apartment.

...

Sgt. Carlson said that authorities had broken the mission down into three phases and plan to carry them out Saturday.
"There are still unknowns, w're not exactly sure of everything that's in there" Sgt. Carlson said. The unknown includes jars that are believed to contain accelerates. Authorities say there are balloons filled with gun powder and bullets littered throughout the floor.
The first phase, which according to officials was successful, was to render the area safe and address the immediate threat of the wire trip booby trap.

...

Authorities say they will send a robot into the apartment.
The second phase will be to dispose of the aerial shells which will include placing the devices into sand trucks and taken to a disposal site for a controlled detonation. Authorities believe there may be up to as many as 30 shells.

The third phase will be the investigation of the apartment itself.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/aurora-dark-knight-suspect-joker-cops/story?id=16822251&singlePage=true#.UAsBErSe68A

I wonder why after people buy guns like those in public, they're never followed by any form of law enforcement that keeps an eye on them for awhile without their knowledge so they can see what they'll do with 'em. Seriously, the FBI keeps an eye on folks who google the word hitman but they can't keep an eye on the ones who purchase guns or the ammo for 'em that are capable of doing crap like this?

Was the shooting imitated from the 1986 comic?