Althouse: Real or political theater?

January 20, 2013

Real or political theater?

About that Bulgarian gun-pointing, gun-jamming incident... I'm feeling truther-y. How about you?

21 comments:

Mary Beth said...: I would not want to be on the receiving end of the punches and kicks at the end.; 1/20/13, 6:20 PM
Rae said...: From the article:

"Mr Dogan, who resigned as leader of the DPS after the incident, escaped unscathed."

Mission accomplished. Didn't even have to kill the guy.; 1/20/13, 6:21 PM
David said...: It seemed like real blood on the guy's face after they got to him.; 1/20/13, 6:38 PM
the wolf said...: "Grave hooliganism?"; 1/20/13, 6:40 PM
Sydney said...: I think the attempt was real, although I suspect a lot of the politicians from the audience who jumped in late to beat the guy up were performing some theater.; 1/20/13, 6:52 PM
edutcher said...: Remember Sqirrelly Fromme?; 1/20/13, 6:54 PM
Synova said...: He had such a tiny little gun I don't have too much trouble believing that his big hand jammed the slide. His hands were bloody in the pictures afterward.; 1/20/13, 7:04 PM
Lauderdale Vet said...: Generally when a pistol fails (Failure to Eject, Failure to Feed, Stovepipe, Catastrophic Failure), it fails after it has already gone off. Failure to Fire is usually a problem with the ammunition, not the gun.

Perhaps it was theater, perhaps it was sabotage, perhaps it was serendipity. Perhaps we'll never know. Very dramatic to watch. Glad it didn't pan out.; 1/20/13, 7:16 PM
Ann Althouse said...: It was too perfect.; 1/20/13, 7:28 PM
Lauderdale Vet said...: Failure to Fire: Tap, Rack, Bang!

I didn't know it was MC jargon though, I picked that phrase up at the range from a LEO friend, to be honest.

It looks like he's trying to rack it there after it didn't go off. It would be hilarious (in a Thank You Lord kind of way) if that gun had a frame safety that prevented it from firing or being re-racked.; 1/20/13, 7:30 PM
Lauderdale Vet said...: "Too Perfect"

I can't imagine that would happen in the real world, either.; 1/20/13, 7:31 PM
m stone said...: It may have seemed too perfect, but small guns are notoriously unreliable.; 1/20/13, 7:32 PM
Michael said...: According to the article he had a "gas" gun, whatever that is, that would have done no harm if fired.; 1/20/13, 8:01 PM
Kylos said...: Gas pistol probably means CO2 BB gun.; 1/20/13, 8:23 PM
Bob Ellison said...: I had the same reaction, Professor. It's a far-away place with a weird story from a foreign source. Snails eat goats in Moldova! Gun stories especially attract quick headlines.; 1/20/13, 9:12 PM
Mary Beth said...: Sometimes you just get lucky. Richard Lawrence had two guns he tried to use to assassinate Andrew Jackson. Both failed. He was also wrestled into submission, and, according to Wikipedia, Jackson whacked him a couple of times with his cane. I didn't see Dogan getting any hits in. If he didn't he was one of the few who didn't.; 1/20/13, 10:04 PM
Ambrose said...: He needed himself a big American "assault" gun.; 1/20/13, 10:04 PM
Big Mike said...: The attacker may have believed the gun was real. He could have been set up. But, yeah, I imagine that a real assassin would have practiced with his pistol ahead of time and known what it could do and been ready to go.; 1/20/13, 10:27 PM
McTriumph said...: The would be assassin most likely used a Chinese made counterfeit pistol, they must be as defective as their drywall and dog food.; 1/20/13, 11:47 PM
KnoxScott said...: A gas gun probably means semi-automatic. I have heard of semi-auto shotguns referee to as gas guns. It comes from using some of the pressure of the current round to load the next round.; 1/21/13, 5:33 AM
KnoxScott said...: Argh, that's what I get for reading the comments before the article.

It sounds like a BB gun or Airsoft by their description and not a semi-auto.

Do BB/Airsoft guns jam?; 1/21/13, 5:38 AM