To steal the words of a coworker, “Put the tinfoil back in the drawer. It was an act of terrorism committed by a piece of shit – not a conspiracy conducted by a secret government agency.”
Caveat: While it does not fit the FBI definition of a terrorist act, because there was no stated political goal, it sure fits the mold of most recent terrorist acts. Some asshole, or group of assholes, killing and maiming as many people as they can, then offing themselves in a most cowardly fashion.
With that said, can we please stop with all the idiotic conspiracy theories? Please? This shit is getting out of hand. I want to address the theories I have seen thus far as best I can. Most of these revolve around a supposed second shooter.
Video
There is a video floating around which claims to be definitive proof of a second shooter. It is shot out the driver’s window of a car leaving the Mandalay Bay main entrance. Here is that video.
There are a number of problems with this video, in terms of being proof of a second shooter.
- First, the flashing light flashes at a constant rate, and is flashing before the gunfire starts (normal since sound travels slower than light) but it continues flashing at the same exact rate when the shots stop for a short break, and then keeps flashing until the shots resume.
- Second, and most importantly, there were no windows broken out of the hotel that low. Unless these conspirators have some sort of magic bullets that can travel through glass without breaking it, this video proves nothing.
Natural News
A website named Natural News post an article very early yesterday morning titled “Five things that just don’t add up about the Las Vegas mass shooting.” This article was clearly written by someone who knows nothing about firearms, firearm laws and has never investigated a shooting first hand. I’m going to point to each of their five things and explain why they are wrong.
- “Dozens of concert-goers reported the presence of multiple shooters” – Really? No shit? Out of 20,000+ people at a single scene, dozens reported seeing something different from everyone else? Anyone who has ever been involved in investigating a shooting will tell you that it is completely normal for people to see and hear different things, that is why we get statements from as many witnesses as possible. At a shooting with 10 people present, you will likely get multiple people who saw it and tell you exactly what happened (if they are cooperative that is) and you will have other people whose minds automatically fill in missing blanks by making up things. It is a normal human reaction in a situation like that. Your brain tries to fill the gaps and you are completely unaware that it is even happening. To you, it seems like that is really what you saw. But hey, don’t take my word for it. Here is an expert on the subject saying the same thing.
- “Who warned concert-goers they were ‘all going to die’ a full 45 minutes before the shooting started?” – Wait, a crazy person running around the Las Vegas strip telling people they are all going to die? Have you ever been to Las Vegas? I go to Vegas every January for SHOT Show and I have had at least one person say something similar to me on every single trip there. The strip is host to a large collection of crazies and druggies who do and say stupid crap all the time.
- “The weapon you hear on videos was FULL AUTO, which is almost impossible to acquire through legal means” – Complete bullshit! I will just give them the full-auto aspect (even though I am hearing rumors they were not). Full-auto weapons are completely legal in Nevada, they are just highly regulated and very expensive. The suspect in this case is rumored to have been very well off financially and had no serious criminal record, meaning he could have easily purchased legal full-auto weapons. Besides that, it is relatively simple to convert any semi-auto rifle to full-auto if you know what you are doing. Again, since the suspect had money, he could easily have paid someone to illegally convert them, or he could have purchased illegal full-auto guns.
- “Why were the exits blocked, trapping victims like rats in a maze?” – Every single concert venue I have ever attended has had limited exit routes. That is absolutely normal. When something like this happens, and you have 20,000+ people trying to get out of a few exits, it creates a huge bottleneck. If this truly was some sort of conspiracy, and they were blocking exits, why would they not have blocked all of them?
- “Why did the shooter have as many as 10 firearms in his room?” – Uh, because he was prepared? He actually had 16 weapons, not 10 (correction: last update from LVMPD said 23). Anyone familiar with firearms knows that you can only fire so many rounds rapidly through a weapon before they start getting very hot, to the point that things melt or light on fire. If you don’t believe me, go to YouTube and search for “rifle meltdown” and you will find plenty of videos of that very thing occurring. Also, anyone familiar with firearms knows that sometimes malfunctions occur and it is easier to grab another gun than it is to stop and clear a malfunction. The fact that he had multiple guns just means he was prepared.
Seriously people, these conspiracy theories serve no positive purpose, and they are generally created by people who are not firing on all cylinders. If you don’t believe me, try perusing the Facebook page that posted the video I included above. How’s about we all sit back, let the investigation get completed and then, and only then, if you have some wild theory about something, let’s talk about it. In the meantime, how about we let the families and friends of those lost or injured mourn in relative peace, without throwing all this conspiracy theory bullshit around.