From the asshole's brother: "Eric Paddock, a brother of Stephen Paddock who lives in Orlando, Fla., said he had made a statement to the police. In an interview with CBS, he said that his brother was “not an avid gun guy at all,” adding, “if he had have killed my kids, I couldn’t be more dumbfounded.” “The fact that he had those kind of weapons is just — where the hell did he get automatic weapons?” Eric Paddock" So the guy is obviously not a gun collector.... probably not even a gun supporter or enthusiast. So where and how does he collect such weapons legally? I don't think he could have killed so many with rocks and knives.
My heart goes out to everyone affected by this tragedy and pray for them as they endure this senseless pain.... Many options to hurt people if one is so driven to do so...The link below is a common fertilizer used in the Oklahoma bombing... http://www.yara.us/chemical/technical-nitrates/calcium-nitrate-for-explosives/ The link below represent that a simple truck can cause pain and suffering... https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/15/nice-attack-leaves-84-dead-and-france-in-shock Also poisoning http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adst/the-jonestown-massacre_b_8592338.html Disturbed individuals make it difficult to contain harm done to others because as soon as one item of harm is eliminated another is readily available. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/saving-normal/201405/the-mind-the-mass-murderer I understand this will not suffice to eliminate more harm caused to innocents in the future as most people with some degree of outward sanity can buy a firearm, rent a truck or buy fertilizer. But it does remind us that there are those walking among us who only want to bring pain and destruction upon us. And this it seems is part of the human condition that we continue to deal with.... Dave if I thought for one minute that giving up my access to firearms would stop all senseless deaths forever I think that would be a fair deal, how could anyone argue such a point. As for the question of automatic weapons I suggest you google or hop on to you tube and see the many methods that are out there to adapt a weapon into fully automatic. They are not easy or cheap to buy from my research but if humans can build them others can modify them. We have laws in place that govern such action, I believe the last one was in 1986 and was signed by President Reagan. But this does not stop those who have intent to cause bodily harm to others... Once again, this is very sad and senseless and we as humans have not figured out how to stop or prevent acts such as this...As always it is not the tool used to deliver death it is the mind behind the tool inflicting the death and destruction...
:cry: There were a lot of St. Lucy's HS girls and women at this concert. At least one of them was shot. My niece's friend went there with her mother. The girl came home to study for a test, but the mother stayed and is now missing. Vegas is only 200 miles away and a lot of locals were at this event... At least one CBS executive is glad this happened. She points out that most people who like country music are conservatives and Republicans so they deserve whatever happens to them... http://www.dailywire.com/news/21815/cbs-exec-no-sympathy-vegas-victims-because-country-emily-zanotti
:idea: They found that girl's mother. She's alive, but she was shot through the cheek. Reports of shots fired at USC on Fox Business News. Other reports dispute this...
I listened and watched the videos this AM...something seemed wrong to me. Obviously that was not a semi-auto (too rapid)...but the cadence varied...it would be at one rate, then slow down just a little...then speed up again. Automatic weapons don't do that. It sounded like somebody cranking a Gatling gun or something. Then this afternoon I saw on the web where a firearms expert noticed that and opined that the guy had a trigger crank or a "bump stock" on a semi-auto. That would fit. My money is on the trigger crank. A trigger crank would make it really hard to aim accurately...but when you're shooting into a crowd of 20,000 and not caring who you hit it would be deadly and disastrous. I'm sure this will trigger a lot of the old debates...but as Ralph said, if a demented person is determined to cause havoc they will find a way. Trigger cranks could and should be made illegal, but I bet they could be jury rigged by someone with minimal mechanical skills. Hilliary was talking about sound suppressors today (sigh)...has nothing to do with it. I don't mean to inject politics into this...it's too damn early after such a tragedy...I just posted the above for informational purposes. I'm sure the police know just what he used but so far they aren't releasing anything. Actually I hate when these things are called tragedies...they are vile crimes against humanity.
It's interesting Stu as my employees and I with one of them being ex-military talked about the possibility of some form of Gatling mechanism. Then I heard two devices were attached to his firearms and this fits the explaination as how this atrocity was accomplished. As for look at me Hillary I'm still relevant her response to suppressors is so laughable it's beyond ignorant. Let's take a 1920 law that was political when Bonnie and Clyde were robbing banks and address it as a form of attack against anything that lobby is putting forth. Totally ignoring the fact that loud decibel noises make you go deaf as I can unfortunately relate to working with loud motors my adult life. But I digress and fall into the political and really don't want to... JO'Co I am very sorry to hear your story and my heart does go out with prayers to all involved..
How are there people in the world capable of this kind of act? That is a question that baffles me. That is not so hard to answer. If the reports are accurate, it's very likely these weapons were NOT legal, or had been illegally modified. But as has been pointed out countless times... offenders do not concern themselves with the law. They do what they want, and laws don't matter. Ah Hillary... you wonderful idiot. An effective suppressor can be made in your garage for a fraction of what it costs to buy one. If this guy had wanted them, he could have easily have used them. He didn't, just like all the other criminals who use guns. They are not concerned with slightly reducing the noise of a rifle (119 decibels is the "quietest" suppressed rifle you'll find), they just want to kill people, but you keep on playing on tragedy to stop anything beneficial to people who exercise their 2nd amendment RIGHTS... :roll:
She's been fired. https://www.indystar.com/story/mone...acebook-post-republican-gun-toters/724808001/
My granddaughter finally got info on her former St. Lucy's classmate. She was shot through the neck. She's paralyzed from the neck down and she can't breath on her own... Several victims were students from my alma mater Cal State San Bernardino. The shooting hoax at USC was created by one of the professors there. She's now a guest of the LAPD...
As some may have noticed on my Facebook page, I tried to take some people to task in an attempt to keep the focus on the victims and relief efforts. Funny enough, the people who bitch the most during incidents like these didn't like my post about keeping the focus on the victims. One of them took exception to my post in which I posted the ways to help vs the reality of ways people think they help. Of course, I shut her down when I made a post about her own racist hypocrisy regarding these mass shootings. The truth is, people live for these situations. It's an opportunity to break out their soapbox to bitch about the anti-gun legislation. At the same time, the gun nuts aren't much better when someone goes the bomb route. To me, and I understand this is a losing fight, but I will continue to try to keep people on track to where their attention should be focused. People just like to talk to make themselves appear smarter than they are, and to inflate their sense of self by 'doing something' on the internet vs actually doing something that would really help. As a younger man, I really hated people en masse. As I grow older, I see that I was right. As for those impacted that we know, my niece's friend from St Lucy's was shot through the neck and can't feel her legs. The mother of the best friend to my cousin is the mother who was shot through the cheek and is still hospitalized. It's just an awful situation in an effed up world.
My granddaughter's other 4 friends who were there have all reported in and they're OK... One of the police officers who was killed was a new father from the Ontario PD.
My wife the RN put it in proper perspective.... this country's healthcare system.... especially when it comes to mental health and providing affordable... and effective care for the mentally ill.. is woefully inadequate. So you combine that with the ease in acquiring destructive weapons means that guns will continue to be the weapon of choice for these murderous outbursts. I don't have the energy to debate this anymore.... if this country can see it's way to elect a president like Donald Trump I feel gun control is a lost cause anyway.
We don't enforce laws already on the books. So new laws will make a difference? None of this adds up to me. A 64 year old retired accountant. Wealthy by all accounts with multiple homes in three states. All testimony so far portrays him as affable. No strong political or religious leanings have been noted. Moves an arsenal of weapons, explosives and ammo into a 32nd floor suite and sets up his killing field over four days..... By himself. Nobody noticed all this activity in a full hotel. Reportedly had maid and room service throughout his stay and nobody reported anything. And then when he acted out he did so with professional, almost supernatural efficiency and accuracy. In an estimated ten minutes of active fire he morphed from a wealthy retiree into America's mostly prolific mass murderer in history. I guess it is possible but certainly not probable.
:!: Some good news. The girl who was shot in the neck is named Katrina. She is off the ventilator and breathing on her own. Even more incredible, feeling is returning to her legs and she can move her feet...
I notice that once again the delusional leftists want to experience that tingling feeling that they get by passing another law that is completely worthless. They really don't care about the problem the law is designed to cure, they just want that feeling. There's a law against murder, did that stop what happened? There's a law against automatic weapons, did that make a difference. The morons think that is they pass a law banning the importation, sale and possession of firearms that his will somehow keep guns from the hands of those that want them. Does the "War against Drugs" ring a bell? Don't we have laws that prohibit the importation, sale and possession of drugs? Isn't America awash in illegal drugs? Yet the tingly feeling crowd is once again seeking that false high of inane legislation. So far, I've see few choices that might in some way slow down the flow of illegal drugs into this country. One that might is a border wall. But of course, that doesn't give the delusional that tingly feeling and so they oppose that.
Yeah the economy is getting better in so many ways. The value of securities has increased almost 5 TRILLION dollars since the last election. Consumer confidence is way up. First time unemployment benefit applications are declining. It's really amusing that the same person who wined incessantly about losing his good paying job and the poor economy can't imagine why American elected Trump. Apparently not everyone has their head up their asses.
:idea: :idea: :!: I just found out that the Ontario police officer and his pregnant wife are family friends. She played on the same softball teams as my granddaughter Jessica.
Yeah the rise in corporate profits since the Great Recession of the Bush years was all Trump: http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2017/08/01/trump_brags_about_corporate_profits_as_wages_stagnate.html So even as median household income stagnated and wages grew a tiny bit, we saw a massive increase in pre-tax corporate profits, from $1.38 trillion in 2008 to $1.84 trillion in 2010, $2.13 trillion in 2012, and $2.16 trillion in 2016. That’s an increase of more than 56 percent in six years. More significantly, corporate profits as a percentage of GDP, which never topped 6.4 percent in the 1990s, rose from 7.3 percent in 2008 to 10.4 percent in 2014. Gipper you gotta quit smokin that Fox News stuff.