• eran_morad@lemmy.world
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      22 days ago

      Whichever you prefer. My 2 cents is that it’s probably a hitman. But it doesn’t matter, does it.

    • unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de
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      22 days ago

      I saw that he went through a starbucks. If he had something to drink there and left any traces then he is as good as caught and probably not a hitman. There are almost no US citizens that cant be identified through DNA.

      from https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/unitedhealthcare-ceo-brian-thompson-shot-dead-gunman-bullet-casings-rcna182975

      Prior to the shooting, the gunman purchased a water bottle and two protein bars from a nearby Starbucks and discarded the items, according to a senior New York City law enforcement official briefed on the investigation.

      Investigators recovered a video showing where the suspect discarded the items, and police collected them as evidence, hoping it could aid in the investigation, the official said.

      Sounds like he just bought it for show so maybe he is alright.

      • BakerBagel@midwest.social
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        21 days ago

        If he chucked them into a public garbage can then they won’t be able to get anything useful from the items. They’ll be so contaminated that you can’t get a clean sample.

    • mkwt@lemmy.world
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      22 days ago

      It seems he had to clear multiple malfunctions, and that suggests his firearm was poorly setup with the suppressor.

      • Fecundpossum@lemmy.world
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        22 days ago

        I’m also of the mind that knowing the limitations of his setup, he trained around his need to manually cycle his weapon. In the video, he did so smoothly and efficiently without any perceptible panic in his movements.

      • makyo@lemmy.world
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        22 days ago

        Curous to know more about this as a person with very little understanding of the actual functionality of guns

        • Fecundpossum@lemmy.world
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          22 days ago

          So, many older pistol designs used a barrel in a fixed position in relation to the pistols frame. Due to this configuration, the added weight of a suppressor hanging from the barrel does not impede the mechanical operation of the slide cycling.

          Modern pistol designs utilize variations of John Brownings tilting barrel design. Because the barrel tilts during the cycling of the pistol, the weight of the suppressor interrupts the movement of the barrel and slide preventing a full stroke of the slide to eject the spent case and feed another round from the magazine. Not good.

          In response, something called a Nielsen device was developed, basically a cylinder with a spring in it that encourages the pistol slide to fully cycle. These are sometimes referred to as a “piston” or “booster”.

          Suppressors are heavily regulated by the ATF, and id have to guess that when seeking one on the grey or black market, or manufacturing your own, a Nielsen device is not easy to replicate with crude means, nor easy to find on the street.

          TL:DR dude was missing a part that makes a pistol work more gooder with a suppressor.

          Source: I gun.

        • MrVilliam@lemm.ee
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          22 days ago

          Edit: most of the following comment regarding suppressors was apparently super wrong. Leaving my ignorance up so the resulting corrections in the reply make sense. Just don’t stop reading after my bullshit comment lol.

          In a normal, unsuppressed semiautomatic pistol gunshot, you pull the trigger, a precise little pin strikes the back-center of a bullet, this causes the gunpowder in the back of the bullet to spark and ignite and explode. The projectile portion of the bullet rides the wave of the explosion at supersonic speed down the barrel of the gun, which determines the direction of the path. There is an initial increase of backpressure of gas between the projectile and the back of the barrel, but semiautomatic weapons make use of this to push back the slide, expelling the spent casing and that gas and allowing the spring in the magazine to push the next round into place for the next shot, also significantly reducing recoil in the process.

          Suppressors (or “silencers”) work by slowing the bullet down and altering the propulsion gas path. Subsonic speeds means no sonic boom. The downside is that you must manually cycle each round yourself, and you will likely experience more recoil per shot.

          Afaik, suppressors are pretty damn hard to legally obtain, so my knowledge of them is a combination of my firsthand accounts with my unsuppressed guns, secondhand accounts of suppressors, a moderate understanding of physics, and some guesswork. I could be wrong about some of this, but this is my general understanding that I carry around with me.

          • Fecundpossum@lemmy.world
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            22 days ago

            I don’t want to be a hater, but you’re wrong about a lot of things in this post. Supressors do not slow a projectile, and in most cases actually increase muzzle velocity due to increased dwell time for gas expansion. They suppress muzzle flash and report by containing said gasses. Sonic booms still happen, and supressors work more effectively with specific sub sonic ammunition, which is usually achieved with a heavier projectile weight lowering the velocity.

            I’m not trying to dunk on you here, just trying to educate.

            Obtaining a supressor isn’t too difficult, but you do have to be thoroughly screened by the ATF after submitting photos, fingerprints, and a form, and a $200 tax, which leads me to believe this suppressor was homemade and lacked a Nielsen device, see my thread above.

            • MrVilliam@lemm.ee
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              22 days ago

              Not hating, happy to be educated! I’m not prideful enough to be upset by you taking the time :)

              • Fecundpossum@lemmy.world
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                22 days ago

                It’s A LOT to learn, and has been a primary interest of mine for a couple decades, so I love sharing. I also love your big pp energy for updating the original comment.

                Edit: decades not days

      • GooglyBoobs@mander.xyz
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        22 days ago

        I wonder if the gun jammed up because of weak grip tbh. Ever shot a .45 and had it jam? It’s most likely because the gun is too powerful for your grip - the slide doesn’t move back and forth properly and then you have to clear the jam like dude does in the video.

        Anyway, reason for jamming aside, dude was committed/practiced, but I don’t think he’s ‘catching casings’ like others initially suggested. This wasn’t that smooth.

        • Fecundpossum@lemmy.world
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          22 days ago

          See my comments below. I’m pretty convinced he was manually cycling his slide because his suppressor, whether homemade or street sourced, lacked a Nielsen device or “piston” or “booster”