Kansas Gunman Kills At Least 3, Injures More Than a Dozen

Sheriff says shooter may have been "triggered" while feds say the incident was not "terrorism" related.

MSNBC

The families of some of the victims identified Cedric Ford as the man who shot more than a dozen people on the way to and at Excel Industries, a lawnmower company in Kansas.

Three people died, and the shooting ended when the first police officer to arrive on scene "exchanged fired" with Ford, killing him. The officer was not injured.

Authorities have not officially identified the shooter, but did offer other details. Harvey County Sheriff T. Walton told the media there were "some things that triggered this individual" and that a possible motive could be related to a protection from abuse order the shooter received yesterday afternoon. A police spokesperson in Newton said the suspect was known to authorities there, without elaborating.

The weapon used by the shooter has been variously described as an "assault style" weapon*, an assault rifle, and a long gun. He also reportedly had a semi-automatic pistol that may not have been loaded, and was not apparently used.

Federal authorities on the scene, including the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives said the shooting was not terrorism-related.

The owner of Excel said he's unsure when the plant where the shooting occured will reopen, saying his first priority was to take care of victims and their families.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

...a possible motive could be related to a protection from abuse order the shooter received yesterday afternoon.

You know what else works as a protection from abuse?

[Domestic Dissident]

Twitter's "Trust and Safety Council"?

[Tonio]

Who was abusing him?

[Will4Freedom]

calling 9-1-1 and waiting for police. and waiting. and waiting. and... Oh crap!

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

Should've immediately taken his guns when delivering the order.

[commodious spittoon]

A safe space?

[Mitsima]

Signs. And white-shaming .. wait, scratch that last one.

[ant1sthenes]

Prison?

[albo]

When is President Obama going to come on TV and tell us how disappointed he is in us?

[Ken Shultz]

"The weapon used by the shooter has been variously described as an "assault style" weapon*, an assault rifle, and a long"

People who know more about this than I do might want to correct me if I'm wrong on the following:

But for people who are worried about "assault weapons" being banned, my understanding is that you can just buy a lower receiver for less than a couple hundred bucks. That's the part they consider "the gun".

Even after a ban, you should still be able to buy an upper and the other components.

You can also buy an 80%, finish it off yourself with a simple drill press if it's a polymer version (maybe no milling required), and skip the whole . . .

My understanding is that an 80% receiver is a chunk of polymer to the BATFE. Companies will sometimes post the official letter from the BATFE on their websites stating that their model is, basically, a non-gun. Your state and local laws, on the other hand, can and do vary and can be much stricter than federal law--you should check with an attorney to make sure you aren't breaking the law.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L397TWLwrUU

But for those who only need to be worried about a federal ban, and don't have the money to dump on a complete set up, it might make sense for them to just invest in a lower receiver and a few magazines now. Even after a ban, the rest may just end up being parts.

And parts is parts.

[colorblindkid]

"Assault style" weapons are exactly that. They look like an "assault rifle". That is all. There are handguns with the same capacity and mechanisms as most of these "assault rifles". They just don't look as cool.

[Ken Shultz]

Just because they can't write the law to ban what they want reasonably and effectively doesn't mean they won't try or that a future Supreme Court won't uphold a stupid and unconstitutional law.

Have you seen some of the stupid and unconstitutional shit the Supreme Court has upheld lately? It isn't a weapons ban. It's a penaltax!

I'd rather have to depend on the kindness of strangers than the intelligence of lawmakers or the integrity of judges. Abd as the election loom nearer, I suspect the price of finished AR-15s and 30 round magazines will skew higher.

[This Machine]

More or less spot on, Ken. Though I'm confused about the part where you mention polymer lowers - every one I've seen/used has been made of aluminum or steel (I am a relative newbie, though, so maybe I just haven't seen a polymer lower yet.)

I built my first AR with a lower from Spikes. Excellent prices, excellent quality. Completed it with a rifle kit from Del-Ton, and never had a single issue with reliability or accuracy. Some snobs may turn their nose up at Del-Ton, but a properly assembled kit won't let you down.

As an added note, some places like Brownells and other firearms suppliers have black Friday or cyber-Monday type deals on stripped lowers - I got three Bushmaster lowers for $50 each a couple years back, a steal compared to list price. Even if you don't have plans to complete them right away, if you can get them at a good price they're worth holding onto to sell, trade, or complete later.

[Ken Shultz]

http://80percents.com/80_lower.....chart.html

[This Machine]

Well I'll be damned. You learn something new every day, I guess. Thanks for the link!

[HolgerDanske]

I'm not a lawyer, so don't take any of this as legal advice, but I would think twice about 80%. Polymer in particular.

Some reportedly break easily. Also the ATF has at various times gone after manufacturers and sellers of these types of items, claiming they were selling firearms online without a background check. Scooping up lists of online buyers in the process.

As for buying the receiver before a potential ban, that may or may not work depending on the nature of the ban? You would still be building/manufacturing something, and a ban would most likely take that into account. If you want to count on grandfathering being an option, have yours built completely beforehand.

Finished receivers are cheap and easy to legally buy in most (all?) states. And in most states you can buy a handful at a time and only have to do one NICS check for them. They will still be recorded on the sales form, but at least you probably won't have to fill out reams of paperwork for a few hunks of aluminum.

Then go home and start a fun (but expensive) new hobby.

[HolgerDanske]

Then go home and start a fun (but expensive) new hobby.

And make sure to follow the laws of your state when doing so! There are a lot of confusing and hard to follow laws out there.

[CatoTheChipper]

"Why shouldn't Allen and her Democratic friends do something about it? Switch parties and vote against him in the primaries?"

I have two progressive friends here in Texas that plan to vote for Trump in the GOP primary. They think a Trump nomination will assure Democrat victory.