I was talking to someone the other night at dinner. They were suggesting that Trump setup his own assassination attempt. My take is that shooting at someone at distance with a rifle is not accurate enough. Certainly not accurate enough where you would be pretty sure you wouldn't kill them and instead nick their ear.

Am I right on this? I know pistols are pretty inaccurate, but I am guessing rifles are not great either. It sounds like the general public think that you can be accurate with these things 'just like in the movies'.

Anyone got any decent info so I can conclusively debunk this baby conspiracy theory? I don't think even Trump is crazy enough to try a shot at himself to win the campaign. If nothing else it would make more sense for Biden to do that, but he would probably take too long to issue the order.

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FormulaNova said..

Anyone got any decent info so I can conclusively debunk this baby conspiracy theory?

Your last sip before your passing will undoubtedly be more Kool Aid.

I guess there are rifles and rifles. I assume sniper rifles with telescopic sights in the hands of an expert could be accurate enough. But shooting at a human you certainly don't want to kill, would take nerves of steel, and very bad consequences if you got it wrong.
I just don't see anybody willing to trust their luck on such a gamble.

The AR 15 rifle and scope combo that shooter used could never make that shot.
He was using the rifle preferred by Mass Shooter's like the one in Los Vagos and Sandy Hook.
If he and his family where into hunting they would have had something way better for the task
He was looking for a way to gain infamy
A sad result of the gun culture In The USA
The longest Sniper Kill is over 3.5 k's
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longest_recorded_sniper_kills

I heard the shooter used iron sights

Me and my siblings were shooting cans off our heads with a 22 before we even started going to school

May they RIP

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bjw said..
May they RIP

Oh! It wasnt like that,

we drank em first

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FormulaNova said..
I was talking to someone the other night at dinner. They were suggesting that Trump setup his own assassination attempt. My take is that shooting at someone at distance with a rifle is not accurate enough. ...

Ummm, what sort of company are you keeping where fruitcake is the only thing on the dinner menu ?

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decrepit said..
I guess there are rifles and rifles. I assume sniper rifles with telescopic sights in the hands of an expert could be accurate enough. But shooting at a human you certainly don't want to kill, would take nerves of steel, and very bad consequences if you got it wrong.
I just don't see anybody willing to trust their luck on such a gamble.

I think the 'not wanting to kill them' is the significant part. This person started with 'snipers can kill someone from that distance', but ignored the fact that their theory means the target is hit in a very small part of the body, but must not actually be killed.

The same way that they teach people to aim for a person's body, its not like you have enough accuracy to hit someone so specifically.

I guess the thing I took from this was how easily conspiracy theories start and how little people need to go on. The person was an 'American' so I guess they have a certain amount of bias one way or the other. In this case anti-trump but I am sure they could have equally been pro-trump and come up with a similar conspiracy theory.

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Froth Goth said..
Me and my siblings were shooting cans off our heads with a 22 before we even started going to school

Sure, fine if you are shooting a can off your own head.

Who would trust their sibling to shoot at them even with a 22? You would need at least two crazies in that situation, plus the parents.

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IanR said..

He was looking for a way to gain infamy
A sad result of the gun culture In The USA

Yep, the simplest solution is the obvious answer. Someone wants to make themself feel special, although in this case why would you do something that more than likely ended in you losing your own life? I guess people are like that.

Crooks was ~150m from Donald. A garden variety AR15 has an effective range of 800m or more.

Crooks was reputedly a poor shot. He was removed from the school shooting team for consistent poor performance. That certainly wasn't a deliberate ear piercing.

That's enough to quash rumours of a self serving false flag attack.

yeah he got pretty close really. I guess it was only 150m but a cm or so would have been fatal. think of a grouping in a range shoot. now be super nervous. When I used to shoot in the adf I'd try with optical sight and would still have a head sixed variation in grouping. at similar range and we would practice, had been trained etc. def a super close call

I spent some time with an ex-military guy in North Carolina. Naturally we took a few shots in the suburban backyard with an AR15 and various pistols. He new does competitive shooting over a distance of 1,000 yards. The range is lined with flags to help with wind judgement. He told me that sometimes he has to aim 18 inches away from the bulls eye.

To the original question.
I remember watching (on tv) a U.S. hostage situation where the perp had an elevated position. Police sniper shot the gun to pieces right out of his hand without shooting his hand. I think that speaks to how accurate and confident a sniper can be.

Would a rifle be more accurate on a flat or a curved earth ?

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psychojoe said..
To the original question.
I remember watching (on tv) a U.S. hostage situation where the perp had an elevated position. Police sniper shot the gun to pieces right out of his hand without shooting his hand. I think that speaks to how accurate and confident a sniper can be.

Had the wind shifted a little bit, assuming there was some wind, and the hostage taker was killed, would it matter? Clearly not. It would be just one of those things where the criminal lost out. If it were the actual hostage I think it would be seen differently.

A one-off does not mean that they are accurate.

Me, I struggled loading a pistol's magazine, with two hands, in a controlled environment. Yet in movies apparently you can do it as you are running, one-handed. I think the accuracy you see in movies is complete bulldust. Not that you are talking about movies, but I think some people beliew the hollywood scenes and then extrapolate.

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psychojoe said..
.... Police sniper shot the gun to pieces right out of his hand without shooting his hand. I think that speaks to how accurate and confident a sniper can be.

clip.cafe/the-magnificent-seven-1960/that-the-greatest-shot-ive-ever-seen/