Santa Monica shooter built his own weapon

[Karee 4,190]

CBS News) SANTA MONICA, Calif. - We know more Friday about the gunman who went on that shooting rampage in Santa Monica, California last week. He killed his father and brother at home, and then three strangers at a community college. Police were unable to trace his weapon and we found out why.

John Zawahri

/ Santa Monica Police Dept.

The assault rifle that 23-year-old John Zawahri used in his Santa Monica shooting spree is illegal in California. But Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks said Zawahri came up with an enterprising solution.

"We know Zawahri was able to buy gun components from various sources across the country to build his own .223 semi-automatic rifle," she said.

Components to build a semi-automatic rifle are available on the Internet. So are the assembly instructions.

The sale of most gun parts online is not regulated -- except for one critical component. It's called the lower receiver. It holds the mechanical parts of the gun, such as the trigger. A background check is required to buy one.

But police believe Zawahri got around that by buying a partially-completed lower receiver and modifying it. Gun enthusiasts call them 80-percent receivers.

John Zawahri, suspected gunman in deadly Santa Monica shooting, left farewell note, police say
Santa Monica shooting details released by police
Police ID suspect in deadly shooting as former student John Zawahri, 23

We found web sites that sell 80 percent receivers for less than $200 and specialty kits tools for final assembly.

Police say one of the reasons Zawahri may have used a homemade gun in his shooting rampage could be because his request to obtain a gun in 2011 was denied.

© 2013 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Source:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57589444/santa-monica-shooter-built-his-own-weapon/

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

So. He failed a background check and obtained a gun that was illegal in the place he lived.

More laws more laws

The many many laws he already broke are not enough

[Karee 4,190]

It sort of reminds of the fight against the manufacturing of methamphetamine. First they made P2P very difficult to obtain. Then they made the 3 chemicals required to make P2P very difficult to obtain. Then fast-forward to present times and people figured out how to make it from cold medicine. Now they are trying to restrict the purchase and sale of things like Sudafed. Obviously that's not working either.

Point being, you can pass all the laws you want. Simply making something illegal will NEVER stop people from obtaining it, if they want it.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

It sort of reminds of the fight against the manufacturing of methamphetamine. First they made P2P very difficult to obtain. Then they made the 3 chemicals required to make P2P very difficult to obtain. Then fast-forward to present times and people figured out how to make it from cold medicine. Now they are trying to restrict the purchase and sale of things like Sudafed. Obviously that's not working either.

Point being, you can pass all the laws you want. Simply making something illegal will NEVER stop people from obtaining it, if they want it.

A love the warm reason of logic in the Morning..

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

CBS News) SANTA MONICA, Calif. - We know more Friday about the gunman who went on that shooting rampage in Santa Monica, California last week. He killed his father and brother at home, and then three strangers at a community college. Police were unable to trace his weapon and we found out why.

John Zawahri

/ Santa Monica Police Dept.

The assault rifle that 23-year-old John Zawahri used in his Santa Monica shooting spree is illegal in California. But Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks said Zawahri came up with an enterprising solution.

"We know Zawahri was able to buy gun components from various sources across the country to build his own .223 semi-automatic rifle," she said.

Components to build a semi-automatic rifle are available on the Internet. So are the assembly instructions.

The sale of most gun parts online is not regulated -- except for one critical component. It's called the lower receiver. It holds the mechanical parts of the gun, such as the trigger. A background check is required to buy one.

But police believe Zawahri got around that by buying a partially-completed lower receiver and modifying it. Gun enthusiasts call them 80-percent receivers.

John Zawahri, suspected gunman in deadly Santa Monica shooting, left farewell note, police say

Santa Monica shooting details released by police

Police ID suspect in deadly shooting as former student John Zawahri, 23

We found web sites that sell 80 percent receivers for less than $200 and specialty kits tools for final assembly.

Police say one of the reasons Zawahri may have used a homemade gun in his shooting rampage could be because his request to obtain a gun in 2011 was denied.

© 2013 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Source:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57589444/santa-monica-shooter-built-his-own-weapon/

Receivers are serial numbered and regulated exactly as a firearm. The receiver IS the firearm and is the only part of any firearm which is "traceable". (lower receiver for the AR-15 since the AR-15 has a two part receiver, the lower receiver contains the fire control mechanism)

The lower reciever is serial numbered upon manufacture, before it is "completed" The statement by the police is premature, uninformed or intentionally misleading. There is no way to "get around that" other than making one yourself which any machinist could do in a local machine shop, but that is not what he did.

This kind of article results when people who do not know about guns and gun laws write articles about guns and gun laws.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

It sort of reminds of the fight against the manufacturing of methamphetamine. First they made P2P very difficult to obtain. Then they made the 3 chemicals required to make P2P very difficult to obtain. Then fast-forward to present times and people figured out how to make it from cold medicine. Now they are trying to restrict the purchase and sale of things like Sudafed. Obviously that's not working either.

Point being, you can pass all the laws you want. Simply making something illegal will NEVER stop people from obtaining it, if they want it.

Very true

Firearms are old technology. Even semi-autos and autos have been around more than 120 years. The basic design and function of firearms are studied in every mechanical engineering and physics program in the world. Any machinist can make a firearm and some of them make the most outstanding firearms in the world...custom gunsmiths. Before automobiles, firearms were the most complicated machinery in most homes.

Your mention of sudafed and other drugs is interesting.

Firearms are the MOST regulated legal item you can own. There is nothing else you can legally own...not even opiates...that is less regulated.

After more than 100 years of failure of 20,000+ existing gun laws to stop crime, the answer for many uninformed people is "MORE gun laws"

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

Very true

Firearms are old technology. Even semi-autos and autos have been around more than 120 years. The basic design and function of firearms are studied in every mechanical engineering and physics program in the world. Any machinist can make a firearm and some of them make the most outstanding firearms in the world...custom gunsmiths. Before automobiles, firearms were the most complicated machinery in most homes.

Your mention of sudafed and other drugs is interesting.

Firearms are the MOST regulated legal item you can own. There is nothing else you can legally own...not even opiates...that is less regulated.

After more than 100 years of failure of 20,000+ existing gun laws to stop crime, the answer for many uninformed people is "MORE gun laws"

I wonder what is going to happen when a shooter goes on a rampage with a shotgun, which would be horrific.

What will the liberals demand we ban then.

I wonder if the Anti-Gun idiots have ever stopped to think why those people choose the Ar-15 so much. Maybe because it's glorified in Hollywood movies and monkey see monkey do. Not the most dangerous weapon out there by a long shot.. However most liberals only have Hollywood level understanding of weapons, so I guess it's natural to expect them to want to do stupid things like ban assault style weapons, which always fuels gun buying and kills reasonable debate.

Edited June 15, 2013 by The Nature Boy

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

The NSA should monitor and FBI needs to crackdown on all this domestic terrorism. I would begin with anyone the subscribes to Shotgun News or Guns & Ammo.

Edited June 15, 2013 by The Patriot

[Karee 4,190]

The NSA should monitor and FBI needs to crackdown on all this domestic terrorism. I would begin with anyone the subscribes to Shotgun News or Guns & Ammo.

Sounds like they're pretty much monitoring everyone now.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Sounds like they're pretty much monitoring everyone now.

Collecting publicly available megadata is not the same as monitoring.

[Karee 4,190]

Collecting publicly available megadata is not the same as monitoring.

Phone records are publicly available data?

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Phone records are publicly available data?

The information they contains is, more or less. The proprietary form the carrier maintains them is in a more useful form for data mining.

[Karee 4,190]

The information they contains is, more or less. The proprietary form the carrier maintains them is in a more useful form for data mining.

I wonder why you need a court order for this data if it's simply public information?

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

I wonder why you need a court order for this data if it's simply public information?

The courts have determined the data on a cellphone can be examined and collected by police officers without the need of a court order if discovered during the course of an arrest, precisely because there is no expectation of privacy for that information. Again, it is the form the data is maintained by the carrier that makes it private property that could necessitate a court order if the carrier does not give that information willingly to law enforcement, or others, while at the same time maintaining the data for marketing purposes, and selling that data to third parties or sharing it with affiliates.

[del-2-5-2014 1,339]

Collecting publicly available megadata is not the same as monitoring.

Without even touching on the publicly available aspect, which I disagree with you on, but what do you think they do or will do with the collection? Use it as bragging rights only?