(01-25-2023, 08:51 AM)BIAD Wrote: Mushrooms... Friend or Foe?
Quote:Half Moon Bay: Seven dead in another California mass shootingBBC:
...
In emotional remarks at a news conference in Half Moon Bay on Tuesday afternoon, California Governor
Gavin Newsom said he's grown weary of having to "say the same things we hear again and again" in the
wake of mass shootings.
"What the hell is wrong with us that we allow these weapons of war and large capacity magazines out on
the streets and sidewalks?" he asked. "Why have we allowed this culture, this pattern, to continue?"
"Only in America do we see this kind of carnage," he added.
...
US news channels showed the suspect being pinned to the ground and arrested by police. He used a legally purchased semi-automatic pistol, Sheriff Corpus said.
...
In a statement, President Joe Biden said he was praying for the victims and called on Congress to pass legislation reintroduced this week by Democratic senators that would raise the minimum age to purchase assault weapons in the US to 21.
Just hours after the attack, seven people were injured and one person was killed in a shooting in Oakland - about 40 miles (64 km) north-east of Half Moon Bay. The Half Moon Bay attack is the 37th mass shooting in just 24 days, according to Gun Violence Archive.
...
"... called on Congress to pass legislation reintroduced this week by Democratic senators
that would raise the minimum age to purchase assault weapons in the US to 21. "
Killer Suspect: 66 years old.
(Missing from the BBC article: "...The shooting happened during the recording of a music video
in the area, according to an independent journalist at the scene who provided video images to
CBS News Bay Area...") -CBS:
Wow.
"Never let a perfectly good crisis go to waste" - Rahm Emmanuel
I've yet to discover why Newsome and BidenHarris are carrying on about "assault weapons" in these shootings. As this article plainly states, this shooter used a "legally purchased semi-automatic pistol". In Monterey Park, the shooter ALSO used a pistol which the local Keystone Kops described as a "semi-automatic assault pistol" and were uncertain if it was "legal in California" (isn't it a cops JOB to know what is legal and what isn't? Like I said, Keystone Kops there) which "semi-auto assault weapons" ain't even a thing. No such thing exists. It took a few days of intensive research to discover what was actually used in that shooting, which was a Cobray M11, which is a large, clunky pistol intended to simulate a submachine gun version, but without all the wholesome goodness, fun, and actual usability of submachineguns. They are made solely for wannabes who want to simulate being a "badass" without having to put in the hard work to really BE one - sort of like those dumbassed "AR pistols" which are neither an AR nor a pistol, but combine the worst of both into one unuseable package . No word yet on the sort of weapons used in the family massacre by drug cartels in Goshen, California from last week.
So I just don't know why in the world they're trying to connect any of these shootings to "assault weapons" for legislative purposes other than the quote from Rahm Emmanuel that I opened this post with. What they are doing instead is akin to trying to outlaw Ferraris by banning horses and carriages by simply calling a horse and buggy a "Ferrari". When neither Ferraris nor horse carts are being used in the average shooting incident. I doubt that will ever work for them. It won't have an impact on crime at all other than creating a criminal class from formerly law-abiding folks. Criminals ain't gonna care at all.
And, as you point out, this shooter (as well as the 72 year old Monterey Park shooter) was several decades beyond their proposed legislative "fix", and that would not have fixed anything at all in these cases - so why the disconnect? Earth calling politicians - get with the program and start thinking things through! These band-aid "fixes" you are proposing aren't going to do anything at all beyond lulling the public into thinking "something is being done" when clearly it isn't. California in particular has the strictest gun laws in America, but clearly those laws are not doing a damned thing to alleviate the problem... so how is it that more laws are the answer when the laws already there are not working at all?
The family massacre in Goshen last week, and this Half Moon Bay shooting have another thing in common beyond bullets - they are both drug related. Last week's massacre was by Mexican Drug cartels, and the Half Moon Bay shooting is drug-linked because reports are that the mushrooms being grown are "magic" mushrooms, and that cannabis was also being grown at that location for the "medical marijuana" trade, which is sure to draw attention from the cartels in their never-ending effort to eliminate competition.
"Butbutbut" you might say, "this shooting was done by an old Chinese guy!" It seems unconnected until one realizes the fact that drug cartels are hiring locals, usually gang members but not always, to do their dirty-work and distribution. In Virginia, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel recruited a bunch of locals to do all the work in rural Axton, Va, and more urban Winchester, Va, among other places. The Sinaloa Cartel has recruited locals to do the work at their London, KY, distribution center. It's a pattern that repeats at every cartel distribution center across America. It's not beyond the pale to speculate that this or these Old Guys were recruited by cartels to fight their battles in the drug wars. Not confirmed, mind you, but certainly a possibility.
About a yer ago, I saw a couple cartel guys visiting a neighbor (who is no longer a neighbor these days), even here in the boonies. Not much to do about it but kit up and wait for them to try coming to my house. They'd have been gone, leaving only a bull's-eye on my back, before the cops could get here had I called the cops on them. Several years ago, the county Sherriff's Office busted a cartel ring here in this county, too, but as is well know, the cartels keep backups, and were likely back in operation within 48 to 72 hours of the bust.
So perhaps Newsome and BidenHarris should make it illegal for Mexican Cartels to operate in the US rather than facilitating their operations and drug smuggling acrosss the border. Just a thought, but a thought that might have more impact on the local shooter landscape than, I dunno, relabeling horse carts as "Ferraris" and then banning the horse carts in an attempt to fool the public into thinking they are doing something about actual Ferraris... or actual drug cartels, for that matter.
.