Death and Terror On The Strip...

[Jarlaxle]

And it does appear that he was shooting one or more fully automatic weapons, weapons that are illegal in all 50 states except under very strict circumstances (as I recall, only older automatic weapons (manufactured before some time in the 60s as I recall) can be acquired and then only through a specially licensed dealer and only after an extensive background check; they cannot be sold privately or given away (even to family members) and you must have a specially licensed dealer designated to receive the automatic weapon on your death (you cannot will it to anyone either, at least without going through the red tape of a transfer and background check). Automatic weapons owned by the public are, thus, very limited and very expensive. My guess is that it will turn out he used illegally acquired automatic weapons (and mere possession of such are punishable by lengthy federal prison terms).

1986 is the cutoff, IIRC. But yes: to get one requires an expensive, multi-month colonoscopy from F-troop. Well...legally, anyway. I could get one on my lunch break if I didn't care about the legality.

[Jarlaxle]

Or he could have bought any of a number of semi-automatic weapons that can easily convert to fully automatic, often with kits that are legally sold. Yes, owing such a converted weapon, or sometimes even the non-converted weapon along with the kit, is illegal, but it makes it far more accessible to the average joe than a weapon that comes fully automatic to begin with.

Tbe number of semiautomatic weapons tbat can be "easily" converted without a machine shop is actually quite small. (Offhand, 99% of AR15s cannot.)

[Jarlaxle]

This is why I only go to work (private homes) the grocery store (15 min. trips at most) and the front desk of the library (I order the books pulled through their online system) anymore, and why I shop for almost everything at Amazon. :

You should see a qualified professional for this. I'm dead serious: I know I'm a misanthropic asshole, but I'm worried.

[Big RR]

Well...legally, anyway. I could get one on my lunch break if I didn't care about the legality.

I have no doubt anyone who wanted a fully automatic weapon enough could get one that way.

thanks for providing the date--I knew it was a while back, but didn't know it was as recent as 1986.

[Jarlaxle]

Not to mention — this does not sound like he was using a handgun or even an easily-concealed machine pistol like a German MP40 or an Uzi. So how did he get his chosen weapons and what must have been literally hundreds, if not thousands, of rounds of ammunition into his 32nd floor firing point? Nobody in the hotel got even the least bit suspicious?

Bill, the guy planned this out very meticulously, (apparently he even had a surveillance camera set-up outside his room so he could see when the SWAT team was closing in.)

He checked into the hotel last Thursday; since that time he could have gone in and out numerous times with shoulder bags and duffle bags, without anyone noticing anything that looked unusual or suspicious; it's a huge hotel with thousands of guest rooms and a couple of dozen elevators:

Mandalay Bay has 3,309 hotel rooms, 24 elevators and a casino of 135,000 square feet

Sneaking in 10 rifles, (he could have carried some of them in in a golf club bag; a very common sight at Las Vegas hotels) and hundreds of rounds of ammunition over a four day period without doing anything that would look out of the ordinary would not have been difficult at all...

Plenty of rifles will break down enough to fit in an ordinary suitcase...honestly, the hard case for my uncle's target rifle would be easy to simply think was a suitcase from 20' away, if not for the Remington stickers.

[ex-khobar Andy]

Just watching Trump's speech. Standard issue presidential; no complaints; could have been said by Obama or Clinton or Bush; but his recent (in)actions re Puerto Rico lessen his believability on the 'unity' front.

[Jarlaxle]

and with over 3300 rooms (and an open to the public casino) and people coming and going at all hours, it would be next to impossible to screen everyone entering and leaving to check what is going in and out (unless you wanted a line down the strip).

And then multiply that by all the other mega-hotels in the area...

The idea that you could have people going through metal detectors and bag checks every time they walked in to one of these hotels would be a logistical impossibility....

Even if you tried...how hard could it be to get past? Hell...slip a housekeeper or maintenance guy a couple C-notes, and you could probably get in any hotel in the country.

[Burning Petard]

The security problem has one answer--don't do events with big crowds in open fields with tall buildings near by. That 1986 cut-off date seems arbitrary and meaningless. with a big sack of money it makes M60 and Browning .30 cal machine guns available and the BAR Steve McQueen used effectively in 'Sand Pebbles" .30-06 and .308 Winchester cartridges are far more deadly than the .223 military ammo for the AR15/M16.

snailgate

[Jarlaxle]

In other words: live in terror.

Hell. Fucking. No.

[Big RR]

BP--sure you could prevent another shooting from a building that way, but then how many times in our history have we seen such shootings? Whitman in the 60s from the UT tower? Not all that many I can think of--the "cure" is much worse than the disease. Certainly be aware of your surroundings (as we always should), but you'll never make anything perfectly safe--and may well wind up making everyday life much worse for no real benefit.

[Scooter]

In other words: live in terror.

Hell. Fucking. No.

I refuse to let the terrorists win, whether they be ISIS or KKK or the "family values" crowd.

[Big RR]

BTW--I don't know if it's true or not but I just read ISIS claimed responsibility--kind of typical for them.

[Scooter]

ISIS would have claimed responsibility for Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria if they thought anyone would believe them.

[BoSoxGal]

This is why I only go to work (private homes) the grocery store (15 min. trips at most) and the front desk of the library (I order the books pulled through their online system) anymore, and why I shop for almost everything at Amazon. :

You should see a qualified professional for this. I'm dead serious: I know I'm a misanthropic asshole, but I'm worried.

Thanks for your concern, but it’s not pathological. I’ve always been a homebody introvert, but in youth I was more inclined to force myself out of my comfort zone. At almost 50 and with chronic illness, I’m content to embrace my nesting self. Besides the more people I get to know, the more I prefer staying home with my dog. (I DO go out - to the shore and the woods.)

I’m not going to weigh in on the gun control discussion because why bother? It’s a perpetual dead end - emphasis on dead.

[Burning Petard]

"but you'll never make anything perfectly safe--and may well wind up making everyday life much worse for no real benefit."

I could not agree more. Most of the process we all go through to fly as a commercial passenger fits that description of political theater.

snailgate

[Big RR]

That's been my position since the preflight "enhanced security" began.

[Joe Guy]

This is the world we live in. Mass killings will continue and there is no sure way to stop them. Now the gun regulation debate will be rerun in the media and in the long run everything will remain the same.

The anti-gunners will say that if we had more powerful gun legislation, we could prevent these kinds of tragedies. The NRA will say that if everyone in the crowd had been allowed to be armed with high powered automatic weapons, this would not been such a tragedy.

And blah blah blah....

[RayThom]

After losing control of his once subservient girlfriend, this anonymous and increasingly psychotic fundamentalist Christian decided to even the score with his God who had forsaken him. No further, deep seated, rationale needed, and probably none will be found.

Automatic absolution.

OH, LORD... CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?


(And what exactly are "warmest condolences?")

[Econoline]

I’m scared to be out in public in these times, we are living among deeply damaged and very hostile people and a country awash in firearms

I think quite a few people feel the same way you do: in a word, terrified.

That alone makes this an act of terrorism.

[Sue U]

This is the world we live in. Mass killings will continue and there is no sure way to stop them.

No other industrialized democracy in the world has mass shootings -- or any other kind of shootings -- at anywhere near the rate of the United States.

No other industrialized democracy in the world makes gun ownership a constitutional right.

We're doing it wrong.