Active shooter at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas...

[Expat]

Well well there was a photo of the killer's hammer in one of the hotel room photos. Some news chick referred to it as a "tactical hammer".

Dang it... I just gots the regular hammers...

 

[jamil]

I would have run up and kicked the hotel over, so the shooter would fall out the window and then the building would land on him.

Well, ya, but first you have to run like Flash to get everyone out of the building before you kick it over.

 

[jbombelli]

Tactical hammer? They would have hated me in my young days. One of the things I used to like to practice was throwing screwdrivers. I got fairly good at sticking them into hay bales.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Dang it... I just gots the regular hammers...

Just spray paint them black. Tactical!

 

[actaeon277]

If my 10/22 was that laughable, I'd do whatever I could to get rid of it too.

Wonder if that LEO took them home or sold them? I would've.

No more mass squirrel murders!

Maybe he gave it to his daughter, cause she has bigger balls.

 

[HoughMade]

Dang it... I just gots the regular hammers...

Too late. They're sold out everywhere.

 

[actaeon277]

Tactical hammer? They would have hated me in my young days. One of the things I used to like to practice was throwing screwdrivers. I got fairly good at sticking them into hay bales.

I slip and gouge my hand. Does that count?

 

[actaeon277]

About celebrity statements...

I can't find it on YouTube and I'm too lazy to make the video, but there's a scene in Get Smart (the movie with Anne Hathaway) where a henchman is telling the bad guy that it's too bad about the celebrities when the bomb goes off. Bad guy says something lime, (oh yes, what will we do without their witty political statements).

 

[actaeon277]

Knife-wielding attackers kill 29 at China train station - CNN

2 years ago.
28 dead
113 wounded

 

[jamil]

It goes a better overall picture. If one is going to make comparisons, then you can't pick and choose how you want the information framed, and expect it to pass dedicated scrutiny.
If you're going to compare rifles, with hands/feet, knives/sharps, blunt objects in saying that the instances of others is more frequent than firearms, then I would scrutinize it like this: how many rifles are there, compared to hands/feet, knives/sharps, or blunt objects. You can be assured that people have multiples of each compared to rifles.... then you break down the number of those items compared to instances where they are used to her people. I obviously don't have the figures, but I think it's a fair bet, that in comparison to each groups pure numbers, rifles are probably used comparably, if not more, in relation to their numbers.
Don't get caught up with the comparisons. The right exists to protect oneself. Anything that hinders a law-abiding citizen's ability to protect themselves should be opposed. Laws that punish the law abiding, shouldn't be supported because of what might happen.

I would counter with this. That only matters to a point. It depends on the scale and portion. So let's say at the extreme dangerous end of a linear scale, a tool is used 100% of the time to kill people. On the other end of the scale it's 0%. I can't really think of too many things that could never be used to cause a death. Idunno, let's say a Walmart receipt. Bazillions of those out there, 0% of those cause deaths. No need to talk about banning them.

Okay, so hands and feet. Bazillions of those out there, there is a small percentage of those used to kill people, compared to the number which are not used to kill people. No reason to talk about banning hands and feet, but there is a slightly better reason to ban hands and feet than there is for Walmart receipts, but not much above zero.

Rifles. In the US there are probably more than 100 million rifles. If the numbers showed that every rifle was used to kill people, there'd be a very strong reason to ban them from civilian use, because statistics would say you can't own one without killing someone. But in reality it's near zero on that scale as a percentage of rifles. Maybe there's a slightly better reason to talk about banning rifles over hands and feet, just because there are so many more people with hands and feet, but neither are much above zero, so effectively, there's no reason to ban them.

I could also counter with this: As far as comparing hands and feet to rifles, we're not limiting it to people who could potentially kill people with a rifle; not everyone has one. We need to limit it to the people who own rifles. And for a proper comparison, for logical consistency, we need to limit it to the number of people who have the physical capacity to kill with their hands or feet.

That really restricts the second group because there are fewer potential victims, because the victims also have to be physically capable of being killed with hands and feet. A young child is only capable of killing a smaller subset of humans. All that to say, the denominator may be much more equal between rifles, and hands and feet, than you assume.

 

[SheepDog4Life]

Good Lord, I just read the BATFE letter that cleared Slide Fire “bump-stocks”, and anyone who knows anything about me knows where I come down on anything gun-related, but... they sold the concept on “limited mobility”?! That won’t survive even the most cursory re-examination. Maybe BATFE blocks YouTube in their offices? Of course, there are so many shooting enthusiasts whose trigger fingers don’t work, but they can pull forward with their other hand, right?

That being said (summary: “bump-stocks are history”), I hope nobody thinks we can bargain declassifying suppressors as Class III for killing off “bump-stocks” is a viable strategy for 2A damage control.

Well, I do... the words "comprehensive reform", "bi-partisan" and "compromise" come to mind... get out in front of this, add it to SHARE/HPA and then let the Dems line up to vote against the "package". Let the Dems take the position that they would rather do nothing and allow the next Paddock to acquire "bump-stocks" than to allow US hunters to protect their hearing using a device THAT IS PRETTY MUCH REQUIRED by United Kingdom hunters.

Ideally, pass it over their PARTISAN OPPOSITION.

This is just a "battle", not the "war". Perfect time to show those in the middle who the extremists are... that Dems, even on this, would cut off their nose to spite their face.

 

[halfmileharry]

Well, ya, but first you have to run like Flash to get everyone out of the building before you kick it over.

Dang jamil, you ruined it for me. I was still trying to work out all the details.

 

[ArcadiaGP]

ok slate

 

[SheepDog4Life]

Sheriff's statement:

“What we know is Stephen Paddock is a man who spent decades acquiring weapons and ammo and living a secret life, much of which will never be fully understood,” the sheriff said.

This statement, while perhaps "technically" true, is very misleading about Paddock's weapon acquisition "pattern". It's already known that he acquired at least 2/3's of his 47 guns less than a year prior to this atrocity.

To me, his brother's statement that Paddock only owned a "few guns" was likely true until some time plus or minus a year ago when Paddock went on an AR/bump-stock buying spree.

This timeline is the key to determining his MOTIVE... for example, were all of his AR and bump-stock purchases after the election? (a purely speculative example to highlight how important clarity on this is)

 

[Kirk Freeman]

Law enforcement about to name the other co-conspirators already? Stand by.

No Cookies | Herald Sun

 

[Kutnupe14]

The one thing that I find funny when I think about it, is that bumpfire stocks became legal under Obama, but may become illegal under Trump.

 

[jamil]

Dang jamil, you ruined it for me. I was still trying to work out all the details.

Well, Superman is fast--not faster than Flash, but fast. He could probably run throughout the hotel to get everyone out, clear an area for the building to be toppled onto, and then kick it over with the shooter inside, thereby saving everyone.

Oh, and since he's faster than a speeding bullet, and made of steel, he can keep the bullets already fired from hitting people.

But, as he speeds through the hotel pulling people out, he approaches the floor where the shooter is. He starts to slow. A feeling of nausia overcomes him as he stumbles in the hallway. Clinging to the handrails he slumps, too weak to hold up his own weight. Now, on his hands and knees, trying to press forward, he can't help but think he's felt this before.

He falls face down to the stained and smelly hotel carpet. Yes. He HAS felt this before. "Dammit," he thinks as he starts to lose consciousness. "Kryptonite!"

The shooter is crafty and has strategically placed the shards of Kryptonite he purchased from Lex Luthor in the light fixtures in the hall where is room is. This is why the building never gets kicked over by jbombeli.

 

[T.Lex]

Speaking of heroes, unarmed security guy has been named: Jesus Campos. Dude could hear the guy firing in the room and went up to the door. Unarmed.

I'm not sure I'd make that same decision.

Also, other reporting is that there was another door that police didn't find out about until after they entered.

Oops.

I'm still not sure of the speculation about trying to escape, unless there were other cameras that he thought showed that the escape route was also barred by police. His suicide, which is comprehensible if he thought he was cornered, is less so if he had a plan and means to escape.

 

[Hawkeye]

I would've scooped up my loved ones and GTFO.

I suspect he cupped his hands over them and ran or waddled out.

 

[churchmouse]

The one thing that I find funny when I think about it, is that bumpfire stocks became legal under Obama, but may become illegal under Trump.

I was thinking the very same thing.....