Heh, not to make light of the situation, but in the still from the video, Obama looks…disappointed in the meth guy.
Has it come out what kind of rifle they were using? It’d be funny if we find out it’s a .30-30 or something.
That said, a shot taken at a pres candidate, regardless of the likelihood of a hit, is a big deal.
These idiots would’ve likely found the Sec Service (can’t bring myself to write “SS”) awaiting them from any somewhat feasible shooting point.
Though it would be interesting to know how many credible threats are interdicted each year. Against any government official.
Shawn Robert Adolph?
Legal name change or nominative determinism at work? You decide.
Was it determined that they were meth heads and/or white supremacists? Because when I first saw the picture of Gartell in another article a few days back, that’s exactly what you kind of expect a white supremacist meth head to look like.
I believe the comment I made elsewhere today was “those inbreds don’t look like they could plot a circle jerk let alone an assassination.”
Well, they found meth in the truck, the guy named Adolph (the dumbass that jumped out a 6th story window) was wearing a swastika and the article said the cops thought they were associated with a white supremacist motorcycle gang. If they weren’t white supremacist meth heads they sure weren’t going out of their way not to look like they were.
A thousand yards would require something heavy like a .50. 750 yards is on the edge of hunting rifle territory, but with a good rifle, still possible, I’d say. Still don’t need a custom sniper for it, just a really good hunting rifle and the appropriate skill.
A 30-30’d work just fine. Provided it was the right one.
Yeah, but wait until they hijack the blimp!
Once again, this is indeed a serious situation not to be made light of, but I’ll just point out that when I first read the thread title, I thought it was “Mormons foiled in plot to assassinate Obama.” Silly me.
The nice thing about morons is that, while plotting, they tend to foil themselves.
On September 10, 2001, the Denver Broncos played a Monday Night Football game at home (Denver 31, NY Giants 20). A small airport near me served as the base for the (Goodyear?) blimp. The next morning was 9/11, and all air travel was suspended for a week. I dont think the airport had the equipment to tie it down properly, so it just hovered around for a week. Very wierd sight.
Anyway, since this is the base for the blimp, I’ll keep my eyes peeled for white-supremisist meth freaks. And Mormons.
The best I can find is here, which describes the rifles as “a .270 Remington and a .22 Ruger rifle with scope.”
There is no such cartridge as “.270 Remington,” so they must be talking about a Remington-made rifle in a .270 caliber. Remington makes rifles in 2 different .270 cartridges, .270 Winchester and .270 WSM. Remington does make a cartridge in the same caliber (7.036 mm), but it is called the 6.8 mm Remington SPC (naming of firearms cartridges makes no sense whatsoever), so that is another possibility. None of these are particularly known as long-range (>500 meter) cartridges AFAIK.
As far as the Ruger, it may be the ubiquitous Ruger 10/22, one of the most common rifles in .22LR and most certainly not capable of any accuracy at 750 yards, or it may be another Ruger rifle in one of several .22 caliber centerfire cartridges.
“When I was 19, I did a guy in Laos from a thousand yards. It was a rifle shot in high winds. Maybe eight or ten other guys in the world could have made that shot. Well, see you tomorrow.”
I used to live in that 'hood (Colfax and Federal) and I can say without a doubt there is no place outside the staldium from which to make a shot like that. Invesco is not downtown. Makes me wonder where they got the 750 yard figure from.
That being said, if you have a 300 Win Mag or similar with good optics and a rest, 750 yards is no problem. Legend has it that Billy Dixon killed an Indian at Adobie Walls with a Sharps rifle from 1000 to 1500 yards in 1874.
Another story I just heard about, and will look into further tomorrow is that a man was arrested for having a couple of rifles in a hotel in Denver. The guy claims he was on his way to South Africa to hunt, which should be easy to check out. This concerns me because I have stayed in hotels in Denver with hunting rifles before, having no idea it was illegal. Lots of folks fly into Denver and spend the night before heading out to elk country, I don’t know what they want people to do with them, leave them in the rental car?
It’s easy to laugh at these assholes because they failed.
But Gavrilo Princip wasn’t much smarter- he screwed up his first attempt to assassinate Archduke Ferdinand.
It was easy to laugh at morons like Mohammed Salameh, because their attempt to blow up the WTC failed so pathetically.
Anybody still laughing?
Charles Guiteau was a crazy asshole. So was John Hinckley. So was Squeaky Fromme.
Crazy assholes sometimes get lucky. And there are more than a few of them out there.
Nearly ten percent of our Presidents have been murdered. A bunch more (Reagan, Truman, Ford) barely survived serious assassination attempts. It’s an extremely dangerous job.
And as a rule, the crazy assholes probably pose a greater threat than serious, intelligent terrorists.
From what I’ve heard, the guy had a couple handguns in his luggage that the DPD considered “concealed”, the guy says he “forgot” they were in there and didn’t know the DNC was in town. The last part I can believe, having relatives in Wyoming. Just because he’s from a state right next door doesn’t mean he didn’t actively avoid any news about us damn Greenies (the color of our license plates and meant as an insult).
The hotel claims it has no idea why he was walking across their lobby to the front desk with a bunch of luggage.
Hmmm, I’m pretty sure you can’t take handguns to Africa, but I could be wrong about that, and I hear he was not booked at the hotel. Still, if the guy had a plane ticket and a hunt booked, they should give him a pass.
If he really didn’t know the DNC was in town, he might have thought he could just walk in and get a room. There are several bits of the story that don’t make any sense to me though -
- Even Denver doesn’t have any laws against a hunting rifle in its case, and someone walking into a hotel with luggage and a pretty good reason for having the rifle isn’t the same as a Nazi meth-head
B) Is Denver defining “concealed” as “in a case”? I didn’t think “concealed weapon” included a pistol packed away, but I’m fairly sure if someone saw it he’d be in far more trouble, and possibly injured.
III) Several news reports mentioned that the may or may not have been registered. I have no idea what this means. There’s no gun registration in Colorado. - there is no number 4
C) He forgot he had guns in his luggage? I find that unlikely. I’ve misplaced guns occasionally, but not in my suitcase.
VI) Seriously? He planned a trip to Africa, came down and bought new rifles, and didn’t have a hotel already? And he got here without seeing a newspaper, listening to the radio, watching TV, or hearing anyone?
Probably just some random guy from Wyoming, living in his own little world, but you really gotta wake up and pay attention to what’s going on around you sometimes.
I imagine he’ll be let go with no charges filed just as soon as the convention is over (or if protesters need the jail space).
Sorry for the doubletap, but I just found a couple quotes out of the news report (404 Not Found | 9news.com)
and
“We don’t know why he was walking through our hotel”? Maybe to talk to the clerk that was checking him in, as he’s apparently done in the past. Unless they have check-in on the curb, how else is he supposed to get a room? (besides, you know, calling ahead)
If you’re a clerk of a hotel and you see someone who’s not a guest walking around with a gun case at the same time the Democratic National Convention is in town, it only makes sense to call security. If the guy was just checking in, he should have left the guns in the car while he checked in, and then brought them in afterwards. There’s no harm in a clerk being cautious. What if there had not been an innocent explanation?