Today's Random News

[Dolemite]

bbobb wants legal heroin and crack.

[bbobb]

It's worked for Portugal.

[Satsuki]

Yeah, this is a strange one. I'm curious if we're going to see an uptick in Baby Boomer perpetrators in the days to come. Both this fellow, and the Congressional Baseball game shooter were on the older side, which is somewhat rare. Obviously they were both white males with guns, which is an outstanding characteristic of these events that are not specifically 'terrorist' in nature. Wonder if he was a vet and it's a PTSD thing going on?

[Satsuki]

Or just a PTSD thing in general?

/edit Bloomberg reports his death as a suicide.

[Fe 26]

Now that I'm home for a bit.

This is what it takes to buy a machine gun:

Pay a tax of $200
Fill out a lengthy application to register your gun with the federal government
Submit photographs
Submit passport photos
Get your chief law enforcement official to sign your application
Wait for the results of your background check to come back

So, you have to pass a background check with the fed, and get written permission by law enforcement. If you break just this one law, you are punishable by up to 10 years in federal prison, a $100,000 fine, and forfeiture of your right to own or possess firearms in the future.

Also, lets talk about price. The web currently thinks the full auto used is a M60. If they are right, that is probably a $75,000 gun. In 2006, they were 30 to 60 k depending. http://www.hk94.com/hk/topic/18899-r...ne-gun-prices/

So if he went the legal route, he some how passed a federal background check, got permission from local law enforcement, and ponied up enough money to buy a brand new truck or boat outright.

If he went the illegal route, he risked 10 years for modifying a gun, then 10 years for owning it, 5 years for each crime committed, 15 years if he had any priory felonies, 10 years if he crossed state lines to commit the crime, and 10 years if he purchased it illegally and the serial number was sanded off.

So what is that, 20 or 30 years just for the guy that sold it to him, modified or unregistered? 20 to 30 to this guy for buying and modifying it? And he shot like 50 people dead, and 400 reported injured. That is about 2250 years of prison.

What else do you do that is reasonable? There are already some big legal barriers. And if you commit any crimes in getting one, or after getting one, you're looking at dying in prison.

[Fe 26]

If the guy was 50 or 60, he'd be about 90 when he got out, just for buying or building something illegal.

[Satsuki]

good research! I didn't know any of that - I didn't even know that getting a machine gun was something you could do legally.

[Doc Holliday]

Jason Aldean? Who did /mu/ piss off this time.


EDIT: Old Boots New Dirt used to be fun, ironic meme music. Listening to it now is just Emo.

[Doc Holliday]

Horrible. What is wrong with this country?

Automation, telecommunications, and specialization has made us too disconnected to each other as people?

[Fe 26]

I'm starting to really wonder if this guy was who the news is currently presenting him as. He almost sounds like a hitman.

He moved around a lot. He didn't fully stock his homes with furniture or paintings. Neighbors said they almost looked like the home's of college freshmen and were sparse. He was known for "winning" $250,000 from casinos. He was never want for money. His dad was a bank robber. He would be gone for months at a time.

Also, I wonder if the date had any meaning. He was a retired accountant. September 1st is the closing/start of the fiscal year for a lot of corporations.