Gunman (wearing a Bush mask) Arrested on NYC College Campus

Gunman Arrested on NYC College Campus
Published: 9/27/07, 2:05 AM EDT
By MARCUS FRANKLIN

NEW YORK (AP) - A college student with a rifle and wearing a George Bush Halloween mask was apprehended Wednesday after walking through a campus of St. John's University, police said.

Security officers and another student tackled the man, who was carrying a single-shot rifle that was sticking out of a bag, as he walked toward a library, police said. No injuries were reported.

It was unclear "why on this particular day he brought a gun on campus," police spokesman Paul Browne said.

Police identified the student as Omesh Hiraman, 22, a freshman at St. John's, a Catholic university of about 20,000 students. Charges were pending.

Hiraman's father, Pat Hiraman, called the incident "a misunderstanding" but said that his son hadn't been the same since having back surgery and was under heavy medication.

"Our son has always been a good boy and has never been in any sort of trouble," the father said. He "would never harm anyone," he said.

http://home.bellsouth.net/s/editorial.dll?bfromind=2728&eeid=5432680&_sitecat=1522&dcatid=0&eetype=article&render=y&ac=3&ck=&ch=ne

...you may as well dress like one.

George Bush Kills People

The rifle was a muzzle-loader

17th century technology. Black powder, ball and firing cap are all loaded separately for each shot. He'd be lucky to get one shot off every 5 minutes.

Unless he had one specific target in mind, the only thing that gun would have been good for is show-and-tell. But the MSM is doing a terrific job jacking up the panic about it.

Aside from hunting and collecting, muzzle loaders are a terribly inefficient way of trying to take something down. Probably an innocent mistake on the students part - but a stupid mistake nonetheless.

But his name sounds "middle eastern" to the neocons and knuckledraggers in this country, so why stop the misinformation when they have a perfectly good circle-jerk to whip into a frenzy.

(Assuming the powder is coming from cartridges and not a powderhorn.)

Tesha

Afghans still use some black powder guns (jezails).

Four shots per minute in any weather, IIRC.

> Capt. Sharpe says four shots per minute in any weather, IIRC.

15 seconds per shot? That doesn't leave much time
for the sparks from the previous shot to die down
before pouring in the next load of powder and even
a quick pass of the ramrod to extinguish sparks
would take maybe five seconds!

It might be exciting to watch someone working at
that speed!

Tesha

http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_brown_bess.html

The "optimum" rate of fire is listed as 4-5/minute, the "actual" is 2-3 rounds.

Capt. Sharpe is, of course, a fictional character, but Cornwell based his novels on a lot of research. The "Chosen Men," also fictitious, would presumably be closer to the optimum than the average rifleman of the era.

"george bush* came in here and shot us!"

on second thought...

...if he'd worn a Dick Cheney mask.