Mandalay Bay Shooter Ending Theory
Thomas Wictor breaks down the theory on why the shooting ended when it did.
As it has been reported, the Mandalay Bay shooter ended his own pathetic life before police officers arrived. He only shot for around 10 minutes and then shot himself in the head through the mouth before police could enter the room. The unanswered questions of his motive are compounded by the unanswered question of why he killed himself, instead of standing off with the police.
The reason it seems odd that he killed himself, is that he still had thousands of rounds of bullets in magazines neatly stacked in the room. The shooter was prepared to shoot for much longer. Also, there are reports that he had more ammunition in his vehicle and Tannerite (an explosive that is set off when shot). All evidence points towards a much larger incident.
The note left wasn't a suicide note, but a formula for shooting the people below.
Here is Thomas Wictor's breakdown on why he believes the shooter accidental shot himself.
Storify Version with Twitter links
Interesting! I hadn't thought of the scattered rifles as showing that he had a hiccup in his plan. I had just thought of it as possibly "staging the scene" or something pointing to additional shooters. This theory definitely is interesting and makes sense to boot!
Not that anything with this guy makes sense.
But, it doesn't make sense that he went through so much effort and planning in order to kill himself without a note or going out with a huge blaze of glory.
a bit of a stretch?
one other thing that stinks.
the guy was a millionaire...with his money fully automatic weapons were NO PROBLEM to acquire (hell he could probably call up Ben Holder of fast and furious fame...and get them delivered to his door)
But I digress.
Given that..why the hell would he screw around with 'bump fire stocks'?
Those are toys...the degrade the accuracy of the weapon totally..it's almost impossible to hit anything intentionally using a bumpfire stock.
The pistol he had was a revolver without a safety or hammer. It is assumed, that he had the revolver in case someone came to the door while he was moving the rifles. The theory is, he was holding the revolver in his hand then moving 4 of the rifles to a new position. One of the rifles slipped and his automatic response was to squeeze his arms, which also made him squeeze the trigger of of the pistol. The shot that killed him was into his mouth and he died by choking on his blood. If he really want to kill himself and had planned this all out, he probably would have aimed a little better with his last shot.
you mean one of these?
possibly one of the most common concealed carry guns for those who don't care for auto-loaders.
I'm unaware of any revolver that has an external safety.
I have a Ruger LCR.
I like wheelguns..dunno why.
they are old, outdated tech.
I have an autoloader myself.
I consider it to be part of my clothing.
I've got these for my Ruger
cool...speed loaders.
be aware that under extreme stress fine motor control goes to hell.
Of course, the Ruger that uses these isn't my only gun.
As far as accuracy.
Shooting at 20,000 people bunched into an area. Shooting fish in a barrel at 100 rounds per magazine.
hundred round magazines?
Never heard of such a thing?
SureFire High-Capacity Magazine, 100-Round
I was unaware that they were available in .223....but I googled it and surprise...they are.
not cheap.
which brings back the question of 'bumpstocks'...instead of a real auto.
Slide fire http://www.slidefire.com/
And the rifles had bi-pods. He had at least one platform setup.
Much less accurate than a thrown baseball at range.
100 x 20+ baseballs into a crowd of 20,000 for 10 minutes.
I'm sure some would hit something.
Yup...as I said I googled it.
ATF approved –Bump-stock devices do not change the action of the gun; they do not make the gun an automatic weapon. Rather, they allow the gun owner to mimic automatic fire in short bursts with variable consistency. This means the devices are categorized as an accessory rather than a conversion. Because of this, USA Today reports that they are ATF approved.
Other accessories will do the same thing–There are numerous ways a gun owner can make a semiautomatic rifle mimic automatic fire. There are special triggers, cranking devices, and other options, all of which are accessories rather than conversions.
“Bump-Stock” devices are for novelty, not accuracy–Bump-stock devices are not made for accuracy, but for the fun of mimicking automatic fire. Such devices tend to have a universal fit, which means an AR-15’s buffer tube can bobble back and fourth inside the bump-stock while the firearm is being shot. These are not made to be precision instruments but novelties that gun owners can enjoy while out shooting at the range.
which makes one wonder what was his objective? To kill people or....what?
Machine guns are legal–Contrary to much of the reporting issued after the Las Vegas attack, actual machine guns are legal in the U.S. Such firearms are extremely expensive–this is because legal machine guns are limited to those made before 1986–but they can certainly be purchased for legal use under federal law. It seems contrary to reality to ban devices that only mimic auto fire in a country where there are hundreds of thousands of privately-owned guns that really are automatic.
a much better choice if murder was the primary objective
Typical leftist war on the poor–A ban on bump-stock devices takes away the $200 device poorer citizens can buy to at least pretend to be shooting the real machines they will never be able to afford.