A thread from the FOOL
I still find it difficult to believe that Oswald could shoot that accurately and quickly at a moving target with an old scope mounted bolt action Carcano.
MISH reply....
Not me. I saw a show where someone did it, and walked the entire path he was suspected of taking in exactly the require timeframe. The person was not even a sharpshooter either, just a hunter competent with rifles.
I believe it was a 60 minutes documentary but not positive.
Was it a "lucky shot"? Perhaps. Perhaps it was just a good shot. It did take three. Was it dooable? Definately.
Whether or not someone put him up to it we will never know, but as for who fired the shot it is crystal clear that the simple answer is 99.99999% most likely to be the correct answer.
People like to believe in conspiracies and like to perpetuate them as well. Not only did the documantary prove that Olswald could have done it, it went as far as to prove that the shots could NOT have come from the grassy knoll, walkways over the road, or manholes as others have suggested.
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From Dane on the FOOL
A little anecdotal observation.
I had an acquaintance who had a Carcano 6.5 with a 4x scope mounted on it. While at the range, a group of us discussed the 3 shots in 8 second theory, so we each tested it. All were able to do it. Out of 3 tries at a hundred yards, I was able to put all rounds within an approx. 8" circle, and on 2 of the tries got 4 rounds off within 9 seconds. This was in a sitting position using a sling, which I think was roughly analogous to Oswald using an unslung rifle on a rest, on a moving away at a slightly crossing angle target. I don't know what Oswald's rifle's condition was, but this one was in pretty good shape, as my acquaintance had converted it to a sporter for hunting.
Remember that the time started when the first shot was fired, so he ran the bolt twice, and got off 2 more shots within 8+ seconds. So I think the act is doable without a doubt.
Caveat: I am a decent rifle shooter. I was on the rifle team in High School, shooting Small Bore, mostly gallery, but occasionally outdoor events like Dewar. I shot on the team in College, doing the same thing, but also Big Bore, using the '03 Springfield at first and the M1 the last year. At the time, I held NRA Expert cards in all the events I shot. I did not shoot rifle in the Air Force, But did shoot Expert every time I had to qualify with the .38 revolver. It wasn't very hard to do that.
The little exercise at the range was about 20 years after I left school, so I was out of match practice, only shooting for hunting and practice.
Dane
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Mish reply:
Most of the other theories in fact have been totally debunked.
What remains of course, however unlikely it may seem to conspiracy buffs, is the truth.
Oswald was sighted at various places, people have timed the routes he could have taken and have proven that anyone in reasonably good shape could have walked that distance in the required time. We have proven here (I hope) that those shots could easily have been fired in time by a single person.
As for people hearing things in the grassy knoll, I am not an echo expert but I bet people heard echos of some kind or their imagination just went nuts.
Furthermore there are extremely serious problems to the point of absolute impossibility that the sewer, overpass, and grassy know were not the places shots were fired from.
People like to believe conspiracies.
Now I do not know if he was hired or was acting out his own plan but Oswald and Oswald alone fired shots.
As for Ruby.....
When Ruby was arrested immediately after the shooting, he stated to several witnesses that his killing of Oswald would show the world that "Jews have guts", that he helped the city of Dallas "redeem" itself in the eyes of the public, and Oswald's death would spare Jacqueline Kennedy the ordeal of appearing at Oswald's court trial. Later, however, he claimed he shot Oswald on the spur of the moment when the opportunity presented itself, without considering any reason for doing so.
Either explanation is plausable to me.
Furthermore this entire storyline is plausable
en.wikipedia.org
It seems he had ready access to that police staion and hung out regularly there. The anecdotes also show him to be of unsound mind.
That someone would know which station would hold Oswald and that person would know Ruby and have him prepared in advance to kill Oswald and not talk about who hired him is far fetched.
I propose Occams Razor is the way to go:
Given two equally predictive theories, choose the simpler.
en.wikipedia.org
In that regard one can believe that 6 people minimum were involved, acting together, cooridinated by some unknown person. Those people were at the grassy knoll, the sewer, an overpass, and Oswald himself, in addition to Jack Ruby who was hired in advance by that someone or someones. No one ever found anyone at the knoll, or sewer, or overpass, but they were there most assuredly. In addition, at least 4 of those people are still "on the loose", yet no one has ever talked about it. In addition, the Warren Commission acted to cover up the evidence so that the conspirists would not get caught.
Now one can believe that total nonsense or one can belive some nut shot the president and another nut shot the nut that shot the president.
Those are the two choices.
Mish |
