Santa Monica shooter's rifle appears to have been pieced together

[n2doc]

By Andrew Blankstein and Matt Stevens, Los Angeles Times
June 12, 2013, 7:20 p.m.
The semiautomatic weapon used in the Santa Monica shooting rampage appears to have been put together from various parts, possibly in an attempt to circumvent the state's restrictions on such guns, law enforcement sources said Wednesday.

While certain types of AR-15-style rifles are banned in California, it's legal to purchase parts that can be used to assemble and customize the guns. Santa Monica police have said John Zawahri, 23, used an AR-15-style gun during the attack and was also carrying a .44-caliber handgun.

The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case was ongoing, said detectives are still trying to figure out how the gun was put together and whether Zawahri obtained it whole or assembled it himself.

Zawahri killed five people last Friday in an attack that started at his father's home and ended at Santa Monica College, where police fatally wounded him in the school's library.

Sources said Wednesday that Zawahri fired about 100 rounds during the rampage, which lasted about 10 minutes. He fired at passing cars, a bus, pedestrians as well as police. Authorities have said he had access to more than 1,300 rounds of ammunition.

more

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-santa-monica-gun-20130613,0,1511956.story

[snooper2]

1. "detectives are still trying to figure out how the gun was put together"

screwdriver and some pliers?

[flamingdem]

3. really! maybe they mean the source of each part?

Chances are he bought it that way from someone who specializes in getting around the rules. This is LA and the number of such guns available is surely staggering

[rdharma]

2. Where and how did he get the lower receiver?

This is why we need universal background checks on ALL FIREARMS TRANSFERS.

[Aristus]

4. It's too bad the thing didn't blow up in his face before he'd had a chance to kill anybody.

When I was taking Basic Rifle Marksmanship during Basic Training in the Army, the instructors told us not to interchange parts such as the bolt. They said despite the manufacturing system of 'interchangeable' parts, different kinds of wear and tear on these much-used weapons can cause differing changes to the various parts, and lead to rifle malfunction. Probably just jamming. But they cautioned that having a rifle blow up in the users' hands was not out of the realm of possibility.