While making my previous post about the FBI I remembered another item I picked up at the NRA annual meeting:
I obtained this from the husband of Nancy R. (also known as “The Shorter Half”).
It is reputed (in jest) to be a practice target for Lon Horiuchi. I would like to point out there is no evidence to support the assertion that Horiuchi practiced to shoot a mother in the chest while holding her baby in her arms–Vicki Weaver was shot in the head.
To be fair, the bullet traversed an (opaque) door before traversing Mrs. Weaver.
Not that a depraved indifference to human life, criminal negligence, and a gross Rule Four violation is all that much better than Murder One…
Shouldn’t the baby be over the shoulder with a Venn-diagram bit of overlap of the heads for a double score?
Are even sure that Murdering Lon can do better than the six ring?
Tam,
True, I would find it simply incredible that he shot Vickie Weaver PURELY by accident in a beautiful Target Neutralization fashion, except for the fact that the ONLY time he can seemingly make a solid hit is when he can;t see what he’s shooting at! {grin}
Besides, you just illustrated that Horiuchi didn’t even follow the ROI he was given! He wasn’t authorized to fire in such a manner as to endanger Vicki Weaver and the children in the house (who were assumed to be HOSTAGES according to the briefing).
Member of the “best of the best” in LEO sniping. Member of the Quarter-Inch Club, ISTR. Wings his first shot. MISIDENTIFIES his second target as being the guy he already shot. Wings his second target, who was, AS HORIUCHI ADMITTED HE KNEW, in the line of fire to the cabin (Horiuchi shot him SOLELY to keep him out of the house, according to his statement). The cabin with the supposed innocent hostages inside.
What was the name of Horiuchi’s department again? Doesn’t it sound a little like “Hostage Rescue Team”?
Then there’s the boner he’s alleged (by another FBI sniper, backed up by physical evidence) to have pulled at Waco, blasting away at the burning building like a drunk redneck at a street sign. (Remmeber, FBI OFFICIALLY stated that there was no way to check the shell casings recovered from Horiuchi’s position — I want to know who else’s they could have been, the Sniper Fairy? — against Horiuchi’s rifle because “he probably has rebarreled it by now”. (Really? How, pray tell, does changing the BARREL affect the marks left by the FIRING PIN, the EXTRACTOR, or the EJECTOR, none of which are part of the barrel?)
OK, I give. We’re all too harsh on the guy. After all, he’s just a guy who looks good on paper, punches nice groups on the range and in exercises, says the right things to his superiors when asked, and apparantly FALLS THE FUCK APART any time it’s for real. He was stressed out. We should all buy him a cookie. Maybe we could ask Vickie Weaver if she’d bake him some cookies for his stress? Oh, wait. . .
His raging chubby messed up his aim?
And he’s a member of the Long Grey Line, too.
I’ve said it for years, I’ve seen a lot of officers, seen a lot of service academy grads. But I have never seen a “mediocre” graduate of the federal service academies. (That bell curve doesn’t HAVE a middle. . . guess which end I believe this product of the Class of ’76 is?)
Geod, it does have a middle. I think you’re saying that it’s an upside-down bell curve of virtue. Cool and wonderful on one end, evil and creepy on the other, and not much in the middle. I’ve actually met a couple of the cool and wonderful kind, but fortunately none of the other kind.