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Originally Posted by jimjamuser
Not counting car bombs or pressure cooker bombs........ a blunt instrument like a hammer would not be a weapon of choice for a mass murderer - it would be more likely a spur of the moment of passion type of weapon of choice. Because bystanders would be more likely to quickly intervene against some killer swinging a hammer than a killer holding a firearm. The most effective firearm of choice would be a semi-auto rifle or one with a bump stop device attached.
.....Why is a semi-automatic rifle a more effective weapon of choice as opposed to handguns? The rifle gives a killer a greater separation distance from the crowd that he targeted. Thus giving the opportunity to gain the best position so as NOT to be easily counterattacked by Police or civilians. The shooter in the suburb of Chicago that dressed as a woman was at the top of a building and had a low wall in front of himself for protection. The Las Vegas shooter killed 60 people from the window of an elevated hotel building. He used rifles and a bump stop accessory.
.....Five or so people in a crowd could be killed by a demented person running through a crowd using a handgun or handguns, but it would be more likely that someone in the crowd could stop them than someone using a rifle from distance and a better position. A more simple way to look at the rifle vs pistol question - is that Army snipers use rifles, not pistols. A greater % of all murders may be perpetrated by pistols than rifles, but the AR-15 type rifle and the AK-47 are the weapons of choice for the DOMESTIC terrorist rifle. These rifles are the firearms that are causing the MOST FEAR AND APPREHENSION among children returning to school soon and what most comes to an adult's mind when they are inside a church or at a large public event. Basically, the TERROR component for those RIFLES is greater than for PISTOLS. The smartest course for America to do is to discontinue the sales of semi-auto rifles, remove those found by police during crimes, and do buybacks in a way similar to that done by Australia and many other countries that have reduced their mass murder events to near ZERO !
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The Vegas shooting and Highland Park shooting are not average mass shootings. The Vegas shooting resulted in 473 casualties and the Highland shooting resulted in 55 casualties. The average mass shooting results in 10 casualties. The average mass shooting does not occur from a rooftop or the 32nd floor. The average mass shooting happens in a confined space with most mass shootings occurring in the home.
That is why 77% of mass shootings are done with a handgun. It doesn't make sense to use a semi-automatic rifle in a home, church, or nightclub. I would like to know how much planning goes into a mass murderer's intention. In my humble opinion the Greenwood Mall shooting was poorly planned. An AR-15 doesn't make sense in a mall, beginning with the food court. Let's look at the logistics. Let's assume he carried the AR under a trench coat and 10 mags loaded with 30 rounds each. That would give him 300 rounds with a total weight of 11 pounds for ammo and the rifle at 6.5 pounds for a total of nearly 18 pounds. That doesn't seem difficult other than being tricky to hide the AR.
A Glock 19 weighs 1.5 pounds. 9 magazines holding 33 rounds of 9mm weighs 8.25 pounds. That would be a total of 9.75 pounds, or roughly half the weight of an AR setup and easier to hide it all in a back pack. I would think this is all considered in the planning stage.