Shooter's Gun Jammed During Aurora Attack, Official Says
Source: Huffington Post
WASHINGTON -- A federal law enforcement official says the semi-automatic assault rifle used in the deadly Colorado movie theater shooting jammed during the attack.
The official said late Saturday the rifle had a high-capacity ammunition magazine which, based on witness accounts and evidence collected at the scene, apparently jammed. The rifle's malfunction then forced the suspected shooter, James Holmes, to switch to another weapon.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation.
Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates has said a 100-round drum magazine was recovered at the scene of the shooting in suburban Denver. Oates said such a weapon was capable of firing 50 to 60 rounds a minute.
Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/22/james-holmes-gun-jammed-aurora-colorado-dark-knight-shooting_n_1692690.html
onehandle
(51,122 posts)lunatica
(53,410 posts)Of course that would have meant teenagers and children too.
liberal N proud
(60,352 posts)Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)everyone in attendance had reached for a sidearm and started blasting away, the massacre would have been avoided. It's really hard to describe how insane this sounds to normal people, but there it is.
liberal N proud
(60,352 posts)I have heard it many times and if you go into the gun nut form and use, they attack you for it.
4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)which prevented such a tragedy.
Atypical Liberal
(5,412 posts)Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)most of the long threads in the gungeon have posts in favor of teaching youngsters to shoot and teaching shooting (gun safety) beginning in kindergarten and thereabouts.
EX500rider
(10,891 posts)Atypical Liberal
(5,412 posts)I learned to shoot at age 8 from my father. When I was in Boy Scouts every summer I spent time on the shooting range from age 10-1/2 to 18.
I took my daughter to the range when she was 5 and helped her shoot my .44 black powder pistol.
Children should be taught firearm safety from an early age, even Kindergarten. The NRA Eddie Eagle program is fantastic in this regard - it teaches children "STOP, DON'T TOUCH, TELL AN ADULT" if they see a firearm.
None of this is the same as advocating that children should be armed, and I think you know that.
klook
(12,174 posts)kemah
(276 posts)What chance would you have firing concealed weapon without bullet proof equipment just a suicide mission. He was expecting people to shoot back, but human nature takes over and fear makes you run away from the gun fire.
Trained professional, police, military run towards the gunfire. They know their brothers in arm are also running towards the fire. They are trained and well armed, and wearing bullet proof vests. They have trained and know how to achieve their goal.
The shooter will also have the advantage of surprise and will pick weak or soft targets.
lunatica
(53,410 posts)Sorry. I should have included the sarcasm gif. And I shouldn't assume everyone here knows me. I'm a believer in regulating the sales of guns. I don't want guns to be banned.
Atypical Liberal
(5,412 posts)I'm an expert, and I'm not surprised. The same thing happened to Loughner. Using aftermarket magazines is always a crap-shoot. Using extended magazines is really a crap shoot.
The problem is that a long stack-up of bullets naturally requires a spring mechanism with a long travel in order to be able to provide constant, uniform pressure to feed every round from the first to the last, without being too strong on the first round and too weak on the last. It's tricky.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_C-Mag
"A test in 2003 by US Army soldiers in Afghanistan found the C-Mag unreliable in simulated combat conditions, with frequent failures to feed among the issues.[4] The Beta C-Mag is not in widespread use by US military forces, and has not been type-classified."
atreides1
(16,106 posts)But he could have avoided this by not going at all or shooting himself in the head.
And more then likely it was the weight of the drum magazine that caused the rifle to jam...it's the same problem when you tape two regular magazines together...the weight pulls down enough that the top of the magazine doesn't line and as the bolt moves forward it doesn't catch the round at the correct angle...causing a jam.
This is how it was explained to me during marksmanship training when I was in the Army...
It would seem that he didn't know how to clear his weapon...or he just didn't want to take the time to do so!
Esse Quam Videri
(685 posts)How many more would have been killed/injured if he was able to continue using the assault rifle.
NinetySix
(1,301 posts)It's ridiculous that people should have to put up with cheap, low-quality equipment that breaks down during a crucially important moment.
Quality control! I hate like hell to advocate for further regulation, of course, but gun ownership is an indispensable constitutional right, as you know.
And before you flame me, do I really have to use a sarcasm smiley?
DCBob
(24,689 posts)sad.
lanlady
(7,136 posts)he woulda/coulda killed more people if it had functioned as advertised?
RC
(25,592 posts)Maybe he can return it and get his money back, seeing howz the defective magazine stopped'em from killin' more people. After all, that what that equipment was designed for, correct? Kill living things, like humans and stuff?
Third Doctor
(1,574 posts)Despite of this he still managed to shoot 70 people. This much firepower in civilian hands is nuts.
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)that is a low estimate. Even with a semi-automatic, two shots a second isn't that hard. Either way, the fact that people can obtain 100 round drum magazines is insanity.
ohgeewhiz
(193 posts)could fire one round, then had to be re-loaded by hand.
None of the Founding Fathers could have anticipated modern semi auto and automatic weaponry, nor aiming such weapons at "sitting ducks" of hundreds of human beings in a darkened movie theater.
Just my two cents worth on gun control and the Second Amendment.
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)and they used the words "Well regulated militia". Private ownership of guns is not the same as a well regulated militia
bossy22
(3,547 posts)greyl
(22,990 posts)ohgeewhiz
(193 posts)It meant that the local government held regulatory powers over the use of such weapons.
Please, gun nuts, stop making shit up!!!!
Regulation Regulated, both words descend to us over 2000 years of latin routed history of our English language.
If you gun nuts and advocates of "freedom" to carry semi-automatic weapons capable of killing 50 or more people a minute stop engaging in wishful thinking as to what the language of the 18th century,( when our Constitution was written), would you please do a little study of history?
Here's a challenge to you: research this expression from the 18'th century.
"The regulars", people within control of the local government!
"The irregulars", people NOT under local governmental control.
Do your homework, and give up your senseless ideas that someone with a semi-automatic rifle capable of delivering 50-100 child-killing rounds in a minute is what the Constitution ever was meant to guarantee! WHat a senseless useless brain got you into that paranoia? PLEASE!
Response to ohgeewhiz (Reply #38)
Post removed
tawadi
(2,110 posts)truthisfreedom
(23,168 posts)And if they're caught in public without the bright orange hat, they automatically go to prison for 25 years.
Igel
(35,387 posts)Assault rifles for civilian purchase have been illegal to make in the US since '86 (that Reagan and his restrictions on guns!).
They've been illegal to buy in the US (except by things like the military or perhaps police) since 1934. Buy one, get caught, and off to the federal penitentiary you go.
Assault rifles are automatic weapons. They have to have a semiautomatic setting. But without the automatic setting, they're not assault rifles. To a certain extent it's like saying a "female rooster" or "a male woman."
It was an assault weapon, which is more of a political scare term than anything meaningful. Semiautomatic, catridges that hold lots of rounds, but ultimately it just meant "scary looking weapon, and trendy among those we don't like because it's scary and easily available."
-..__...
(7,776 posts)ohgeewhiz
(193 posts)buy an assault rifle.
No one in Canada or Japan or the UK can!
No one in the USA needs one.
How about you say " Anyone who buys a surface to air missle should have to wear a bright orange hat at all times."
See how stupid your concept is here?
If, as so many people claim, we need weapons to fight off our democracy, then, surface to air missiles are a better approach than a gun.
Hunting rifles, capable of one or two shots in 5 seconds, to kill deer, turkeys, whatever. OK
Revolvers, to shoot folks who break and enter your home, fine.
Anything more, get into the military to use it, no one needs it in the USA.
4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)good thing he didn't have a bunch of smaller clips.
Liberal_in_LA
(44,397 posts)bicentennial_baby
(37,153 posts)In some cases, the spring in the magazine is so strong it pushes two or sometimes even three up into the chamber and bolt cannot continue forward. In other cases the spring is weak or the magazine is filled to its maximum capacity so it doesn't have the "oomph" necessary to push the next cartridge up.
SLAP RACK BANG is the correct instant response for this particular type of weapon.
Liberal_in_LA
(44,397 posts)Posteritatis
(18,807 posts)Usually because it's, well, jammed partway to where it's supposed to be. It can also be when the brass cartridge holding around remains stuck after the round is fired, preventing the next round from getting into the chamber.
There's a few other things that can happen, including a round being properly placed in the chamber and just not firing because of some problem with the cartridge, but the end result in all of them is that it can't fire again until the offending round or casing is removed one way or another.
Liberal_in_LA
(44,397 posts)If he didn't have all those other guns, someone could have tackled him, I guess
slampoet
(5,032 posts)rocktivity
(44,585 posts)Last edited Mon Jul 23, 2012, 08:23 AM - Edit history (1)
rocktivity