the rifle in lanza's trunk was not an ar-15 .... whatever it was ....

hat tip sDee.

reader sDee has sent in an interesting film clip, and you may read her comments about it in the comment section of "you like apples obama?  ....  well how do you like these apples?  ...." which is immediately preceding.

the link to the clip.  --  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLrxSgkqJQc .

i am no expert in the matter, particularly, but it is immediately evident to me that what ever the officer is examining and taking from the trunk of the car purportedly the one lanza drove to the school the day of the shooting, it is not an ar-15 rifle.  it cannot be a "bushmaster" ar-15, nor any other brand of the rifle type, because it is not an ar-15.

watch the film clip.  the officer picks the rifle up, and is seen to grasp something on the side of the rifle near the front of the receiver, as much as that can be discerned.  but, he most definitely grasps something on the side of the rifle, works it back and forth rather vigorously several times, and something is seen to fly away in the dim light.  presumably, a shell from the chamber of the rifle.

this definitely elimnates any possibility that the rifle in question is an ar-15. 

why?

because the action of an ar-15, the bolt group and bolt carrier (which control the feeding and firing of ammunition from the magazine), is operated from a handle which is located at the rear of the top receiver, and near its top, and not from the side of the receiver where the operating levers/handles of many other semi autos are located.  the officer in this clip operates the action of the rifle from the side, and in the middle of the receiver, forward of where the operating handle is located on an ar-15.

simple at that.

what other sort of rifle might it be?  well, when i was watching the film i thought, maybe it is an ak-47 or ak-74 or akm, or some other variant of the basic rifle.  sort of a natural assumption, under the circumstances, and with the term "assault rifle" being bandied about like it is by "well meaning" politicians and members of the news media, aping the behavior of their handlers.

but, as i have watched the film repeatedly, this does not seem a likely scenario either.  an ak has a very pronounced hump at the back of its receiver, and it is remarkably "lumpy" on the sides of the receiver, as a result of the safety lever/bolt lock being located on the right side of the receiver (the view we have of the weapon in the film).  and, as much as i can clearly see the weapon, the receiver appears to me to be rather flat and slab sided.

the clincher is, the fore end of the rifle does not have the hand guard of either an ar-15, or an ak-47 or variant.  the barrel appears plainly above a fore end that looks like the stock to a conventional rifle.

in sum, the rifle appears to me to be perhaps an ordinary .22 long rifle semi auto, certainly nothing to be trifled with, but certainly not in the order of the "assault rifle" ar-15 or ak-47.

i am afraid that the viewing public, and indeed, perhaps even president barack hussein obama, have been gulled and misled into believing that the rifle in the trunk was ghastly and nasty and evil, and certainly horrendously more deadly than an ordinary & prosaic .22 rifle.  (i  actually doubt that obama was "gulled."  i think, rather, it is he doing the "gulling."  personally, i doubt whether feinstein can tell her ass from a hole in the ground on such matters  ....  she simply does as directed.)

don't misunderstand me.  a .22 long rifle is a deadly weapon.

it just doesn't feed the sensationalistic hyperbole of the news media, as they try to bootstrap this occurrence into a reason to ban "assault weapons," "assault magazines," "high capacity magazine" and god only knows what other sort of tom foolery that the left may have afoot.

and, guess what?  the rifle did not look like an ar-15 to sDee, either.  cuz, it wasn't.

john jay @ 01.01.2013

p.s.  as i watch the clip, i looked for evidence of a magazine, to be able to differentiate what sort of rifle might be involved, ... , the ak-47 has a very distinctive banana swoop in the curvature of its magazine, which is a "signature" feature of the weapon.

i could not see whether the rifle had a magazine or not.  that certainly doesn't preclude the possibility that the officer may have removed a magazine before the media began filming.  it doesn't preclude the possibility that an ar-15 was removed from the trunk before filming either, but, it would be passing odd for the officer to have left the scene of his search with it, before filming, wouldn't it.  who knows?  whoever does know what happened in connecticut that day, apparently isn't talking, given the "variable nature" of the events as described by media and politician, and a media controlled by a politician.

the world takes on a sort of "plastic" or "malleable" quality to it, whenever obama is involved, doesn't it?  fact is not as we ordinarily understand it, when obama has massaged a situation.  like benghazi, and not just "sorta."

Comments

[HoustonMisanthrope]

The comments on the YouTube suggest that it's a semi-auto shotgun. Sure looks like that to me, too. Certainly the cartridge that pops out when the cop pulls the lever back is too large to be a .22.

[john jay]

misanthrope:

i'll have to see the firearm.

for what it is worth.--

i have a ticker problem, so i walk out to the local gun range quite a lot, and i scavenge brass.

in the last 3 or 4 years, i've picked up thousands of pieces of spent brass, in .223, .308, 9mm luger and .40 smith and wesson.

i don't pick up spent .22 long rifle cases, though i probably should.

i cannot tell you how many times i have seen the gleam of light off of a .22 long rifle case, and though it to be something larger.

particularly annoying are the spent .22 magnum, and .17 hornady magnum cases, which are necked like larger cases, especially the .17 hornady round.

i've wasted a lot of energy bending over to pick those things up, only to find out that they cannot be utilized because they are rimfires, and not centerfire cases which can be reloaded.

the above, for what it is worth.

i sent the clip out to a bunch of friends of mine, most having had law enforcement, military and competitive shooting backgrounds.

so far, one has said he thinks maybe it was a saiga shotgun, another says he thinks it is a remington nylon 66 .22 long rifle semi auto.

we need to see the firearm, in order to make an assessment.

we need to see the facts, rather than being spoon fed the "conclusions" to be drawn from this, in the opinion of some ditz talking head who "knows" nothing.

john jay

[Grog]

In the first three seconds of the video, the person with the rifle removes the magazine with his left hand and puts it on the carpet of the trunk, the best image of the magazine is at seven seconds. The magazine looks straight, but the aerial image is too blurry to know for sure.

My guess based on the shape and length of the magazine and rifle is that this is a Ruger mini-14 or Springfield M1A, but that's only a guess.

[john jay]

grog:

excellent.

i did not notice this. an m1a is a pretty sturdy piece of hardware. and, a mini-14 is not a toy.

i will look at the film again, and try to catch that.

i wonder why he did not take the weapon into the school? perhaps he had planned for a more extensive battle with the authorities later on.

anyone have any idea, or heard how much ammunition he may have had with him, for a weapon as grog describes.

mini-14's have been available, at one time or another in .223 remington, 6.8mm remington and 7.62x39mm russian.

m1a's have been available in 7.62x51mm nato (.308 winchester), a pretty ubiquitous cartridge, and 7mm-08 remington, and .243 winchester that i know about. there may be more chamberings, based upon the .308 winchester that i have not heard or read about.

thank you, grog. that causes me to think that maybe he was prepared for a more prolonged battle. odd, that someone would take his life given that circumstance. but, killing children and then a big standoff with the authorities later, ... , that's a bit of an odd combinations of motive for doing what he did.

if he wanted to kill himself, why didn't he just do it at home, quietly, and without harming anyone else.

hard to understand.

john jay

[john jay]

grog:

i watched it again, on as large a screen as i have available, and i cannot make much out of it.

i don't know why a complete description of the weapon has not been released.

it would be a little early to have forensic's results.

i am glad that you have better eyes than i.

john

[chris]

It is a saiga shotgun

http://sgcusa.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/s/a/saiga-shotgun-12ga-19in-a.jpg

[john jay]

chris:

i sent the clip out to about 8 or 9 friends who are very experienced in firearms matters, ... , two gunsmiths, a police officer or two, and all of whom had contacts w/ weapons in the military service, and building and shooting high powered rifles.

so far, ... , 4 of those responded opining that it appears to be a saiga shotgun, with several believing the piece of ammunition that went flying when the police officer operated the action several times to be a shotgun shell.

several other guns have been suggested, and one of my respondents said he thought it was a remington nylon 66 in .22 long rifle.

another ventured the opinion that it was a mini-14 ruger.

none ventured the opinion that it was an ar-15, ... , well, because it wasn't.

i've said in these pages it looks to me like a .22 long rifle weapon. only the person who said nylon 66 has agreed to that.

but, to me, it appears to me as though the weapon has a schnabel tip on the fore end.

oh, well, ... , the connecticut police, or the fbi, could "settle" the issue easily enough by producing the weapon, ... , if anyone would believe them at this time, given their various and varying announcement of the "facts" in this case.

a curious word in america recently, ... , "facts." no one seems to operate under a consistent definition of what the word might mean.

john jay

[john jay]

p.s. nice picture in your link.

i confess, i am starting to come around to the opinion that the weapon was a saiga shot gun.

or, a mini-14 ruger. they come in 5.56mm nato, 6.8mm remington spc, and in 7.62mm (model 43 russian.)

who knows?

is anyone saying, ever? or, is it just to be a revolving mystery, like benghazi, or obama's birth certificate.

you ever get the feeling that the media and the leftist elites in this country are lying bastards?

it's crossed my mind. (how do you do a sarc tag, anyway? laughing.)

[Jason]

It is most definatley a hi point carbine in either 9mm, 40cal or 45acp. I am 100%the sure of this I have owned a couple of them. Google a picture and you will see. The part that gives it away best to me is the buttstock, how it is ventilated so to speak.
Along with the placement of the ejection port and the plastic body of the gun being very identifiable.