March 30, 1981, John Hinckley, Jr. attempts to assassinate President Ronald Reagan. One of the images I’ve seen most frequently is this one:
http://urbantitan.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Reagan_Assassination.jpg
Does anyone know who that BAMF with the gun is? His BAMF level is so high it makes me feel like a BAMF and it makes me want to punch a hole in the wall or do something involving lots of testosterone.
“Secret Service Agent Robert Wanko can be seen in the last photo holding an Uzi.” per Wiki.
Yeah, I saw that after I posted the question. I was just so amazing at how much of a BAMF he was I couldn’t think straight. I had to find out his name.
Growing up with the last name Wanko pretty much guarantees you’re a hardass.
Also, is BAMF some new thing the kids are saying these days?
I would buy a used Yenko from this man.
“I don’t always carry a machine pistol in a briefcase, but when I do…”
BAMF is old, I heard it back in the 1900’s.
I didn’t. What does it mean?
Bad
Ass
Mother
Fucker
Ringo “Which wallet is yours?”
Jules “It’s the one that says Bad Ass Mother Fucker on it.”
/scene
Nitpick. It’s “Bad Mother Fucker”. No ass involved.
It took me some time the first time I ever saw BAMF used with this meaning, because it’s also the traditional comic book sound effect used in X-Men comics when Nightcrawler teleports. I was reading the comics years before I discovered the Internet.
That was you who discovered the internet? Thanks, man, I use this thing all the time!
What decade did it start appearing?
You don’t have to spoil the joke if you don’t want to. I just don’t want to be the only one with a frozen smile on my face.
I remember reading about Wanko’s role in that scene because I didn’t understand why he was planted there so menacingly even after Hinkley had been subdued and Reagan evacuated. Turns out he was covering the retreat. If anyone had tried to follow the car Reagan was in, it was Uzi time. Good training and reaction.
I was expecting something else entirely.
Huh. I always thought he was covering Hinkley, to prevent a Jack Ruby situation.
There were about half a dozen guys sitting on Hinkley by the time that photo was taken, I’d guess. IIRC, watching the video, you see Wanko’s attention is not on Hinkley after he was taken down. He was looking for whatever was coming next. I would not have wanted to be standing in the spot the photographer was when he snapped that pic.
It might take a little badassery away from him but what he is doing is trying in vain to unfold the Uzi’s shoulder stock. It may have been defective or something but he spent the entire time on scene fiddling with it, in between yelling orders and scanning for threats and actually being badass. If they made a movie, they’d probably just leave the goofy uzi stock out and have him look badass the whole time.
From whence does this nugget of fact-resembling information come?