Thursday, June 15, 2017

Firearms Used at Assassination attempt on Republican House Members


Early reports are the rifle used at the Republican congressional baseball practice was an SKS.  The Chinese versions of the SKS generally do not have as nice of a stock as the Russian SKS, above. There are also a number of East block SKS rifles on the market. CNN is incorrect when they say that the SKS is an AK variant. It is a copy of the Russian SKS, not the Russian AK or the Chinese AK.

Several sources are saying the Hodgkinson had an Firearms Owner  Identification Card (FOID).  That seems to be correct.  Others are saying that he had a concealed carry permit.  That may be, but has not been verified as of yet.

The 9mm pistol has not been identified. Reported by CNN:
Traces are still being done on the two firearms recovered at the scene -- an SKS rifle 7.62 (which is a Chinese-made AK variant) and a 9 mm pistol, a law enforcement source tells CNN.
The suspect had purchased an SKS rifle and a 9mm pistol in Illinois, legally.
This article claims he had an FOID and a concealed carry permit. From the Chicago Tribune:
In Belleville, Hodgkinson had purchased at least three guns, all from a local gun dealer, and had a permit to carry a concealed weapon, a source said. Among those three guns was an SKS assault rifle, the source said.
(snip)
"Subject did have in his possession a valid Illinois FOID card. Subject was advised to not discharge his weapon in the area," the report states. "Subject in the pine trees shooting and there are homes in the area. Caller heard 50 ... shots."
I listened to the tape of the gun fight. It  is difficult to be precise. I thought I could differentiate between rifle and pistol shots.  I counted about 20, maybe 22 rifle shots, and about 42-44 pistol shots. The shooter had a rifle and a 9mm pistol. We know the rifle was fired. I suspect the pistol was fired as well.  We know both Capitol police officers fired their pistols.

If the rifle was fired about 20 times, it seems likely that it was a classical SKS with a 10 round magazine, rather than the rarer models with a 20 round magazine or a detachable magazine.  There was plenty of time on the audio recording for the shooter to reload with a stripper clip after shooting 10 rounds.  We should find out shortly.

 Here is the audio recording from a phone that I listened to.

Link to tmz.com

 ©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It only proves one thing. All of the paper work did not accomplish a damn thing. licenses, permits, finger prints. have never stopped a functional trigger finger or any one intent on doing harm to others. is anyone forbidden to buy pancake syrup, ammonia or moth balls. No! but if you mix them together properly you can make C-3 plastic explosive. the person is the problem not the weapons or the ingredients. It made no difference how many round magazines the guy had. it was not enough when he was out gunned. self defense may require more than ten rounds in a magazine. it is ridiculous to set a number requirement on round capacity of magazines or guns. put an empty one down and pick up a full one. ten round magazine in an automatic pistol how about the two hands you have one ten round pistol in each hand. and with a little practice you can reload both guns without putting either one down. just damn stupid laws passed by ignorant people for political gain.

Anonymous said...

Sorry but I just have no pity for people that will not carry for self defense and depend on someone else to save their ass. self defense need can happen anywhere, this case proves it.