Posted on 10/24/2002 4:51:47 PM PDT by joesnuffy
Bushmaster Is Popular, Deadly October 24, 2002 We get a lot of guys who come in and say ‘That’s the gun I had in the military,’” -Don Davis
Law enforcement officials tell CBS News Correspondent Jim Stewart they recovered a .223 caliber "Bushmaster" rifle from the suspects' car. Police also found a scope and a bipod in the vehicle.
The Bushmaster is very popular with former military personnel, said Don Davis, who owns Don’s Guns in Indianapolis. The store has one of the largest firearms selections in the country.
According to officials, one of the suspects, John Allen Muhammad, served in the Army as a machinist, and was discharged in the mid-1990s.
“We get a lot of guys who come in and say ‘That’s the gun I had in the military,’” said Davis. “This guy they got in Maryland was in the military. It looks exactly like the gun he had in the military.”
Don’s Guns sells about two Bushmasters every week, Davis said.
The Bushmaster is a knockoff of the Colt AR-15, which is the gun actually used by the U.S. military. The two models resemble each other closely. Both generally cost $820 to $870. In the West, many people use the guns for “varmint hunting,” Davis said: shooting from long distances at prairie dogs and other small animals.
According to a senior Defense Department official, Muhammad had no training as a sniper while in the military. But even if he had no training, he could still have used the gun effectively from long range, Davis said.
“It would absolutely make a good gun,” he said. “Anybody that had that gun sitting on a tripod, with a scope, be it you, your wife, anyone, could take that gun and hit something 500 yards away. So these shots (in the DC area), which are 150 yards away, anybody could do that.”
Sources tell CBS News that the gun recovered from the trunk was a Bushmaster semi-automatic rifle, .223 caliber, model A-35, xm15-e2s, serial number l-166036.
Sources say the gun had a flash suppressor on it. This device hides the muzzle flash when the gun is fired, making it difficult to detect where the shot originated. In 1994, the Brady Bill outlawed flash suppressors on automatic weapons.
But thousands of Bushmasters manufactured before then had flash suppressors. And according to Brenda Duety, the president of Don’s Guns, it is not difficult to buy flash suppressors illegally at gun shows.
According to the Bushmaster Web site, in 2000, the company sold 39,932 automatic rifles, almost 10,000 more than its closest competitor, Colt. “BUSHMASTER IS #1 AGAIN,” the release reads. “The combination of Bushmaster's top quality materials, mil. spec. manufacturing, great accuracy and durability have again proved to be the best selling AR type rifle in the U.S.A."
Some comments of former customers and firearms enthusiasts familiar with what passes on CBS as an EXPERT http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=150708
F'ing this, F'ing that. Juvenile.
Sheesh.
Joe--as to your rant, the f word may offend many. I know you're p*ssed but, rules are rules...
Lie - it was for the newly-defined category of "assault weapons," which the gun grabbers wish to intentionally confuse with automatic weapons.
And according to Brenda Duety, the president of Don’s Guns, it is not difficult to buy flash suppressors illegally at gun shows.
False: There is nothing illegal about flash suppressors, only about attaching them to post-ban weapons. Felons may even legally own flash suppressors, so long as they own no weapons. This statement is merely added to convince the sheeple that gun shows are places rife with the possibility of criminal actions, which therefore need additional regulation.
Why would a gun dealer say this? Even if true, why add to the anti-gun hysteria?
Since when did the U.S. Military start using AR-15s?
Sources? With information as specific as the serial number, they darn well ought to be saying who these "sources" are.
The Communist News Network reported that the AR-15/XM-15 has the same functions and capabilites as the M-16. I guess they never heard of full auto or burst fire. Why am I not surprised. Not to mention a bayonet lug and flash suppressor if this was a post ban gun.
Even though this wacko was clearly motivated by the "Religion of Peace", it will be non-criminal citizens who take it in the .... well you know. K.K.T, Snake Schumner, Fienstein and her sidekick Boxer will be in full bray. I just hope the gun was bought through a dealer, and after the background checks and assault weapon ban, so that at least gun rights activists can point to how useless such laws really are. Although, when a gun control law doesn't control the illegal use of firearms, the answer is not to repeal the law, but rather to pass another one. Madness is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
Gun shows are his competition....
There are some gun store owners that don't like the competition that gun shows bring.
/john
BULLSHIT ! Semiauto rifles. liberal puke reporter, scare monger,anti gun America hater.
Thought about it a few years ago, decided I wanted more oompf so got a 7.62x51 battle rifle instead., It has the pistol grip, and 20 (or 30) round magazine, plus a muzzle brake which at least looks like the original flash suppressor. It's also got integral scope mounting rails. Oh yea, it's also black, so it probably would scare Fienstein out of her support hose.
He doesn't want to make a bet on that. Not with me doing the shooting. Sounds to me like he's trying to make a sale.
Sniper quality?
What a joke!
I can hit a target 2" square at 250 yards with a 30-30 Accelerator. One shot.
There's nothing special about using a semi-auto to pop off one round. Almost any bolt action or lever action could achieve the same results.
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