In the news

I think that in the US an attack has to be driven by religious or political ideology before it is officially terrorist. I heard somebody saying that it might be classified terrorist if they find out more about what happened.

In other news, IS just claimed responsibility, stating that the shooter is a convert to Islam.

Brainstorming road safety ideas on a board at tory conference:

Not wanting to make their excuses for them, but those two might not be incompatible - better cycling infrastructure generally is surely the prerequisite for then limiting cycle lanes on trunk roads?

Have we had this yet;

https://twitter.com/broderick/status/914801273584709632

How 4chan users subvert the news to fit their narrative.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/10/02/investing/las-vegas-shooting-gun-stocks-sturm-ruger-american-outdoor-brands/index.html

I just don't get why there has been no gun reform in the USA? One of the worlds superpowers can't even understand why gun ownership has to be controlled.

As above, can someone explain please? I'd love to learn why.

Because muh sekken memment

In short: too unpopular with the huge number of people in the US who want to keep on owning guns and see it as a constitutional right.

Edit: what he said ^

1. a wilful misreading of the 2nd Amendment by a small group of gun nuts
   
2. The NRA
   
   

Most Americans want gun reform, but it's political suicide for any congresspeople to try and act on it.

Trump's not going to do anything about it. Gun lovers are the core of his "base".

It's all Britain's fault really.

We let them have too much power when they were our colony, then when we asserted our rights they weren't used to it. They kicked up a big fuss despite actually having more democratic rights than 95% of Englishmen, and ever since then have been terrified that another government will come along and try to take their liberty.

Basically in the USA it's still 1789, there's still a very really threat that the government might try and suppress them at any moment, and a well-regulated militia is needed to protect rights and freedoms.

The dude was an accountant?
His brother's statement: "He did stuff, he ate burritos."

https://twitter.com/lauraolin/status/914855814866898944

Full automatic fire guns are 100% impossible to acquire legally in the US for civilian use and can only be sold to the military. To be able to get hold of them and then "take aim at 500 people you don't know" is fucking nuts.

I believe that the fully automatic weapon ban does not apply to weapons manufactured before 1986.

and the market value on those is apparently $20k

C4 news saying the automatic weapon ban of 1994 expired, and that auto weapons legal in Nevada with registration.

There must be many categories and so on, but I'ma confused.

Someone is suggesting it might be a 'bump fire' attachment. Legal and meant to 'simulate' automatic gunfire...

Just youtubed it - looks like it uses the recoil to keep bumping the trigger, and 'simulates' it pretty well. Jesus.

Sandy hook guy had one of those.

Guardian suggesting that too. Also clears up my 1994 law confusion.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/02/las-vegas-suspect-stephen-paddock-gun-semi-automatic

William Gibson posting on Twitter about how the AR15 can be modified, chap responding to him says that it's a task achievable with hand tools and YouTube (modifying for full-automatic operation).

Bleak.

State law = legal or no opinion vs Federal law = nope

That was my thought.

You see some amazing diy modifications and life hacks of all sorts amazing things online. How hard can modding be? Surely 99% of all the complex machining has been done.

could ryan air hire the monarch pilots to sort their shit out

No. Most Monarch pilots aren't type approved to fly 737's and O'Leary is too tight to pay for them to be trained up.

The Monarch pilots should be OK as there's a lot of demand for pilots at the moment. Ground staff/cabin crew not so much.

@h2o good post on the Catalan issue back there.

As for the US, I keep thinking things couldn’t get any worse...