Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?
This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.
Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
I have consistently registered this exact complaint not just about television, but about real life. I am genuinely puzzled by why someone that wants someone else dead would prefer to engage in risky combat than hit them from a distance. With regard to the quality of shooting, I want to emphasize that it is incredibly easy to make consistent shots with a scoped rifle. Seriously, I can take someone that has zero prior training and have them consistently hitting within a couple inches of a bullseye at 100 yards with five minutes of instruction, and I'm not even good! At that distance, there is also no need for adjusting your scope it's literally just putting the crosshairs over the target, steadying yourself, and firing. The damage done by a single well-placed .308 round will also be much more severe than what one would expect with a handgun.
So, why does no one do this? A few reasons, some substantive and some speculative:
Most murders aren't hits, they're interpersonal disputes, deals gone bad, or engagements that weren't guaranteed to end that way. Outright hits are just not very common in the grand scheme of things.
There are de facto rules of conduct to gang violence. In one edition of Grand Theft Auto, firing at targets with a sniper rifle is met by a Mexican gentleman yelling, "sniper on the roof, they fight like girls!". This appears to be a more or less genuine sentiment with regard to not walking up to your enemy and killing him at close range like a man.
Truly professionalized gang forces, such as Central American drug cartels, absolutely do use sniper rifles where it makes tactical sense.
In contrast to the above, these guys are basically morons, completely unaware of just how effective a lame looking Winchester Model 70 is for dealing with a target. They're not familiar with the weapon, they have no idea how to zero a scope, and the incentives of their line of work don't lend themselves to self-preservation. See also, any footage of shootouts between gangsters - these guys don't bother to properly grip the pistols they do have, which should absolutely blow your mind when you consider how hard it is to make a shot with one hand compared to a proper grip. Again, they're incompetent morons.
Finally, some combination of concealability and disposability are crucial. While I'm sure they could get on a roof with a hunting rifle, I'm also sure that they would be noticed getting on the roof with a hunting rifle, that there would be multiple cameras that would capture their action, that they would literally the only person on a roof with a rifle, that the sound of a rifle would be noticed, and that it's pretty hard to run away while carrying a rifle.
Another detail: maybe the biggest obstacle to securing a murder conviction is if you don't have the weapon. If you shoot someone in broad daylight, there's a logic to doing it with a cheap weapon you then immediately throw into the deepest, darkest hole you can find.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link