No AR used in navy yard shooting

After a long, depressing day following the carnage at the Washington Navy Yard, I woke up yesterday to this Politico headline: “After shooting, talk turns to gun control.”

“Gun Control Debate Reignited in Washington,” said an MSNBC headline.

That is the media’s default response after a mass shooting, and it’s an important debate to have.

But we already had it after the horror of Newtown, and it has become clear that Congress is not going to act on this issue.

The shooting spree by Aaron Alexis isn’t likely to change that, even though he killed 12 people literally in Capitol Hill’s backyard. What’s more, CNN is now saying Alexis didn’t have an AR-15 assault rifle as had been widely reported, which muddles the picture even further.

In fact, as the New York Times reports, Alexis “test fired an AR-15 assault rifle at a Virginia gun store last week but was stopped from buying one because state law there prohibits the sale of such weapons to out-of-state buyers, according to two senior law enforcement officials.”

So in this narrow instance, at least, existing gun control laws worked.

Yes, it’s amazing that a guy with his history of psychiatric problems, who once fired shots into his neighbor’s apartment to protest loud music, can get any kind of gun, let alone a contractor’s clearance into a military base. But some of the stricter proposals, such as requiring background checks for gun show purchases, would not have prevented the massacre.

Alexis is said to have bought a shotgun in Virginia before the assault and to have grabbed one or more handguns from his victims.

CNN was among many news outlets, ranging from the New York Times and Washington Post and New York Daily News, which put a picture of the assault weapon on the cover, to the AP and Fox News, that said Monday he had used the AR-15 rifle.

But CNN said yesterday that, "the sources, who have detailed knowledge of the investigation, cautioned that initial information that an AR-15 was used in the shootings may have been incorrect. It is believed that Alexis had rented an AR-15, but returned it before Monday morning’s shootings.”

And officials later confirmed at a briefing there was no evidence that Alexis brought an AR-15 to the Navy Yard.

The gun issue was muted in Monday’s coverage, but Piers Morgan, a gun control crusader, went off that evening with three pro-gun advocates.

“We have this debate every time," the CNN host said. "I want the day to come when we don't have to have this ridiculous debate time and again in America. AR-15, killing multiple Americans, I just cannot have this debate anymore and it's ridiculous!”

If past is prologue, the gun debate will ricochet around the media for a week or so and then fade. Without action by the administration, which failed to muster sufficient support after Newtown, there will be no news peg to keep the story going.

When the president addressed the shootings at a White House event Monday, as Politico’s piece put it,“Obama again hinted at his view that Congress must act to to help prevent future massacres, but offered no specifics and stopped short of promising a new White House campaign on that front.”

Whatever happened to the days of the media just reporting, and not pushing for agendas?

Until that dude that sits at that desk, up on that TV news show tells me there is some kind of fancy, new fangled "agenda"......then I do not believe it exists.

Uhhh, lost me on that one

I heard at one point CNN claimed the weapon was an AR-15 shotgun!  Whats an AR shotgun????     I think  Piers Morgan made this claim.  Wonder if this contraption was what he was talking about?
 

Well after it was confirmed he didnt have an AR then some pundits started saying it was a military style shotgun or that he had some kind of special ammunition, both of which are false. Idk what kind he had but i have heard it was the most popular gun in america, which would be the remington 870

And if he was firing from the fourth floor and killing people, i onder if he as firing slugs?

Lanza didnt even use an AR in sandy hook, he left it in his car, but that didnt stop the media then, and the result is that the common perception is that he did.

Dennis324 wrote:I heard at one point CNN claimed the weapon was an AR-15 shotgun!  Whats an AR shotgun????     I think  Piers Morgan made this claim.  Wonder if this contraption was what he was talking about?
 

There are a couple of companies that make AR-15 in shotgun form. Mostly 20 gauge. Saiga, which is what the AK47 became, makes 410, 20, and 12 gauge versions.

They all pretty much suck except for those mall ninja type people. Mall ninjas find everything cool. Course, if I can't knock a duck or goose outta the air with it.........I aint got a use for a shotgun and these tacticool thingies aren't made for hunting. At least the rifle versions are made in good calibers for hunting.

Sir Pun wrote:Lanza didnt even use an AR in sandy hook, he left it in his car, but that didnt stop the media then, and the result is that the common perception is that he did.

Something else was happening in Sandyhook though. Even after we knew the AR was found in the trunk, all official reports, including the coroner's report, said the victims were shot with 5.56 rounds. None of the witnesses describe a long gun in the school at all.

Of course I could go off he deep end here and start linking up other official reports that do not match up with what we think happened in many different events........example: two undetonated bombs were found inside the OKC bomb site in the first day or two after the explosion.

If anyone does not believe that they are lied to by both media and government......well they are past help at this point.

Well i know at least NBC admitted there was no rifle used at sandy hook but other than that the official reports say there was. Of course those official reports also say it was a high piwer rifle, which we both know an AR is not. Anyway, if its a shotgun, the. Technically it cant be an AR but maybe an AS.

Marconius wrote:

Dennis324 wrote:I heard at one point CNN claimed the weapon was an AR-15 shotgun!  Whats an AR shotgun????     I think  Piers Morgan made this claim.  Wonder if this contraption was what he was talking about?
 

There are a couple of companies that make AR-15 in shotgun form. Mostly 20 gauge. Saiga, which is what the AK47 became, makes 410, 20, and 12 gauge versions.

They all pretty much suck except for those mall ninja type people. Mall ninjas find everything cool. Course, if I can't knock a duck or goose outta the air with it.........I aint got a use for a shotgun and these tacticool thingies aren't made for hunting. At least the rifle versions are made in good calibers for hunting.

A mall ninja??     I don't think I've ever heard of that one.

I carry a 410 in my truck to shoot snakes with on the farm.  Kinda need one where I go fishing.  Water Moccasins.

Sir Pun wrote:Well i know at least NBC admitted there was no rifle used at sandy hook but other than that the official reports say there was. Of course those official reports also say it was a high piwer rifle, which we both know an AR is not. Anyway, if its a shotgun, the. Technically it cant be an AR but maybe an AS.

I dunno.  The guy was just messed up.  That's the problem.  I am surprised however that security at the Navy Yard wasn't tighter.

Sir Pun wrote:Well i know at least NBC admitted there was no rifle used at sandy hook but other than that the official reports say there was. Of course those official reports also say it was a high piwer rifle, which we both know an AR is not. Anyway, if its a shotgun, the. Technically it cant be an AR but maybe an AS.

AR stands for Armalite, the company that designed it.....so yeah a shotty can be an AR  

Even better than that, besides the first AR being a .308, which is approaching high power, there are these bad boys:

http://onlylongrange.com/badnews.asp

Comes in .338 Lapua in case you need to kill that elk(or cape buffalo...whatever) in the next county or .300 Win Mag if you only need to go a 1000 yards or so.

Ssssoooo, once again nanny-nanny-boo-boo

Yeah yeah

Dennis324 wrote:

Is there an award for Best Smiley Ever???

Thought you'd like that one.