Thursday, November 17, 2011

A Possible Assassination Attempt - Suspect Arrested

How did this guy get this gun?  Some of the most pro-gun conservatives are now arguing that everyone should be able to carry, without a permit.  That was the statement made last evening by Minnesota Congressman Chip Cravaack during a telephone town hall.

If Cravaack and his conservatives get their way, there would be nothing legally preventing dangerously crazy people from walking around with guns.  Or criminals, for that matter either, anywhere, any time. 

Clearly - as this incident demonstrates - there are people who shouldn't have guns, not EVER, not anywhere. We don't need all of these guns, we are not safer with all of these guns, and we are not free with all of these guns either.

From ABC News:

White House Shooting Suspect Arrested

PHOTO: Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez
A 21-year-old Idaho man suspected of firing a semi-automatic rifle at the White House was arrested today, authorities said.
"On Wednesday afternoon at approximately 12:35 p.m. EST, based on information generated by Secret Service agents from the Pittsburgh Field Office, Pennsylvania State Police Troop A located and arrested Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez at a hotel near Indiana, Pa.," according to a statement from Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Edwin Donovan.
Donovan said that Ortega-Hernandez was in the custody of Pennsylvania State Police after being found at a Hampton Inn.
The Secret Service fanned out across the country, coordinating with local law enforcement to find the shooter. The agency said that it had received information that Ortega-Hernandez was using certain hotels during his travels.
This morning, a hotel employee reportedly recognized the suspect from photos distributed by the Secret Service and contacted the agency.
The Secret Service said Tuesday that it suspected that a bullet fired in the shooting incident Friday may have hit the White House after a round was found in a window. The agency said they feared the suspect in the incident might be a threat to President Obama.
The round was stopped by ballistic glass behind the historic exterior glass, while an additional round was found on the exterior of the White House.
Police believe Ortega-Hernandez is mentally ill. He has an extensive record, ranging from domestic violence to drug charges. Sources say a police investigation uncovered evidence suggesting Ortega-Hernandez has a fixation on the White House.
At 9:30 p.m. Friday, police received reports of shots fired in the bustling area of 16th Street and Constitution Avenue
Authorities later found a car in the area. The suspect had fled, but what police discovered inside the vehicle left them deeply concerned: an assault-style rifle and empty shell casings.
Police linked the car to Ortega-Hernandez and started searching for him.
Authorities suspect Ortega-Hernandez had been in the area for weeks, coming back and forth to the Washington Mall. Before the shooting, he was detained by local police at an abandoned house. U.S. Park police say Ortega may have spent time with Occupy D.C. protesters.
Obama, who is currently on a visit to Australia, was not present at the White House at the time of the incident, and has been out of town for the last week.

18 comments:

  1. The suspect is apparently a complete wacko.

    This video:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQPu11RYUWc

    is interesting. One of the the things it has is the footage of the guy who fired an "assault weapon"* at the WH a while back. He was immediately gunned down by a phalanx of well trained and heavily armed people. Oh, wait, that's wrong. He was tackled by a guy. This, despite the fact that it is their Constitutional Right to always have a gun with them, as commenters like anonywhoever like to point out, and they can and By GOD WILL carry their gunz wherever the hell they want--stupid, bad anti-gun laws be damned!


    * I know, I know. It was prolly only a oneshotatatimenotreallyan'automatic' you newspersonstupid rifle.

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  2. Yeah, after all, he could just as easily substituted a kitchen knife, a hammer, or an automobile parked on the mall for that firearm in an economic substitution effect assassination.

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  3. More gun control FAIL.

    A prohibited person commits an act of gun violence with a gun he can't own in a city he can't possess one in.

    But wait. I am sure you will blame it on someone else. Nevermind. Someone else's fault of course.

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  4. "More gun control FAIL."

    180 degrees off.

    It's more lack of gun control in at least three states (it's not clear where he obtained the weapon) where he somehow got his hands on a notforshootin'dear,whothehell'skiddin'who? rifle. Unless he stole it from a proper sort of weapon storage device then either the "victim" of the theft, some secondary, undocumented seller or some unscrupulous pawn or gun shop who sold it to him is guilty of some sort of moral if not legal code violation.

    "Oh, we didn't know that the guy was batshit insane" is an excuse, not a justification, for putting profit and pride ahead of public safety*.

    That sort of thinking is also one of the reasons that many of us think a smidgeon of regulation might not be the worst thing in the world where gunz are concerned.





    * I think I just found a new slogan for the NRA, "Putting Profit and Pride ahead of Public Safety, ever since Wayne LaPierre showed up.".

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  5. Thanks Demo, I knew you could do it.

    btw:
    "or some unscrupulous pawn or gun shop who sold it to him is guilty of some sort of moral if not legal code violation."

    If that is the source, it is a federal crime. Pawn shops must have a FFL to buy and sell guns and their customers must seek approval from the FBI before buying a gun or, even if they are just getting their own gun out of hock.

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  6. "If that is the source, it is a federal crime. Pawn shops must have a FFL to buy and sell guns and their customers must seek approval from the FBI before buying a gun or, even if they are just getting their own gun out of hock."

    Did I say that it was a lack of a federal law? No, I did not. Pay attention, now. The fact that there are laws on the books requiring that felons not possess firearms--one that is not observed by criminals--is one that the gunzloonz absolutely love to trot out. So, criminals don't obey the law, we know that. Some people in the pawn and gunshop bidneth are criminals, we know that, too.

    This:

    "Unless he stole it from a proper sort of weapon storage device then either the "victim" of the theft, some secondary, undocumented seller or some unscrupulous pawn or gun shop who sold it to him is guilty of some sort of moral if not legal code violation."

    is what I said. I didn't say "some otherwise honest guy breaking just the one stupid, teensy, bad, little, foolish, should be ignored by any REAL MERKKKIN, hysterical anti-gun law."

    I said:

    "some secondary, undocumented seller or some unscrupulous pawn or gun shop who sold it to him is guilty of some sort of moral if not legal code violation."

    So, immoral, unscrupulous, possibly criminal people--some of whom might actually have FFL's (we also know that there's a few of THEM out there)--decided to sell a weapon to someone that they didn't check out before making the sale.

    It's something like selling liquor to minors. As long as nothing bad happens, nobody gives a rat's ass. When something bad happens, people are hurt or killed, the cops and DA get involved and, sometimes, otherwise law abiding people wind up with their manquipment in the antique laundry machine's water expeller device.

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  7. Like I said, another example of gun control FAIL because criminals don't obey gun control laws and I was sure you could pass blame somewhere else and you didn't fail to disappoint.

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  8. Throwing a hammer at the white house would have achieved pretty much the same ineffective result.

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  9. Demo commie,
    Would a person be more likely to survive a 200 yd assassination attempt if the shooter used an AK or 3-round capacity deer rifle, all else equal?

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  10. Some people in the pawn and gunshop bidneth are criminals, we know that, too.

    If they were criminals they could not have an FFL, and if they were not criminals and still sold a weapon to a prohibited person then they should get to join the ranks of prohibited persons after 10 years in the Federal pen.....

    The Feds will know the initial point of sale for that evil AK in about an hour......

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  11. I read today they charged the guy with attempted assassination of the president of the United States. What a bunch of bullshit. I wonder if that's a capital offense.

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  12. "Throwing a hammer at the white house would have achieved pretty much the same ineffective result.

    November 17, 2011 9:57 PM"

    Right. From several hundred yards away. It's idiotic comments like that one that let me know that you gunzloonz are bullies and clowns. Do the math, shitforbrains.

    This one:

    "Would a person be more likely to survive a 200 yd assassination attempt if the shooter used an AK or 3-round capacity deer rifle, all else equal?

    November 17, 2011 10:03 PM"

    Not a whole lot better. Way too little information. There are literally hundreds of combinations of rifles, optics and ammo types on the market.

    My neighbor, when I lived a few towns over, could put five rounds through a hole less than .375 diameter from 200 yards with his accurized, heavy barrel .223. I've read, and been told by aficionados of the design, that an AK-47 can be pretty accurate at 200 yards.

    The AK-47 has a minimum magazine capacity of what, 30 rounds?

    At 200 yards a proficient marksman, armed with either weapon could probably put rounds on a target, the rest is ballistics.

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  13. mikeb302000:

    Is it a capital offense? According to Wiki, "no". Squeaky Fromme was released from prison a few years bac; Sara Jane and Johnboy still languish in federal detention. But then none of them are muslims have other undesirable ethnic, racial or religious backgrounds; I'm sure that there would be an impassioned plea on the floor of the house to pass a new law mandating the death penalty if that were to happen.

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  14. Despite the guy being a known nut job, apparently he has indicated it is his intent to kill the President.

    Apparently he believes the President to be the anti-christ which puts him on a par with other right wing lunatics like Glenn Beck and some of the far rightwing nut jobs among the religious right.

    The 'PROOF that Obama is the Antichrist!' youtube videos are hilarious.

    And then there are sites like this one:

    FINAL PROOF! OBAMA IS THE ANTICHRIST! - The Landover Baptist ...
    www.landoverbaptist.net › Church Forums › Godly Republican Politics
    FINAL PROOF! OBAMA IS THE ANTICHRIST! Godly Republican Politics.

    It's not just this clearly crazy guy that is this kind of crazy, and a lot of the same religion nut crowd are gun nuts as well as ..just nuts.

    There is also news that a lot more shots were fired. Was Obama at risk? No. Possibly other staffers or his family? Yes. Innocent bystanders in Washington DC on the mall? Hell yes.

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  15. At 200 yards a proficient marksman, armed with either weapon could probably put rounds on a target, the rest is ballistics.

    Yet, world famous commie Lee Harvey Oswald could not possibly have hit a moving target moving directly away from him betweem 40-60 yards......

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  16. Thomas,

    Actually, it was eighty-seven yards, and since the road sloped gently downward, the car was only moving away from Oswald, not changing its apparent position. Oswald apparently had the skill, given his military record, but the shot in question wasn't all that difficult.

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  17. Sorry, I forgot.

    /sarcasm-tag-off

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  18. "Yet, world famous commie Lee Harvey Oswald could not possibly have hit a moving target moving directly away from him betweem 40-60 yards......

    November 18, 2011 5:34 PM"

    Since I have no idea what that is supposed to mean I can't respond to it. Ask a question, if you have one to ask.

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