The Last Gun (49 page)

49
. “Poplawski's Murderous Roots Started Early: Trial Revealed Terrible Upbringing,”
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
, July 3, 2011. For a complete compendium of Polawski's Internet postings, see Anti-Defamation League,
Richard Poplawski Selected On-line Postings, 2007-2009
.

50
. “Who Is Richard Poplawski?”

51
. “Poplawski's Murderous Roots Started Early.”

52
. “Suspected Killer Poplawski's Weapons Cache May Have Been Legal,”
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
, Apr. 7,2009.

53
. Martin Luther King Jr., “I Have a Dream,” American Rhetoric,
www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm
.

54
. Posted on Pennsylvania Firearms Owners Association website, Dec. 29, 2007, in Anti-Defamation League,
Richard Poplawski Selected On-Line Postings
, 37.

55
. Posted on Pennsylvania Firearms Owners Association website, Nov. 24, 2007, in Anti-Defamation League,
Richard Poplawski Selected On-Line Postings
, 36.

56
. “Alleged Cop-Killer Poplawski's ‘Hit List' Surfaces,”
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
, Jan. 23, 2010.

57
. “Poplawski's Murderous Roots Started Early.”

58
. “I've seen it. He showed it to me. He said ‘Eddie, get one of these,” Perkovic told a newspaper reporter. “Poplawski Bought Guns Through Shop in Wilkinsburg,”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
, Apr. 7, 2009. Perkovic later pleaded guilty to charges of reckless endangerment and two DUI charges and was sentenced to six month's probation. “Lawrenceville Rifle Incident Nets 6 Months' Probation,”
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
, Mar. 10, 2010. He was arrested after an incident in which he argued with his girlfriend while holding a rifle and told her, “More cops should of died. I'm gonna go out and shoot more cops.” “Alleged Cop-Killer Poplawski's ‘Hit List' Surfaces.”

59
. Posted on Pennsylvania Firearms Owners Association website, Nov. 10, 2008, in Anti-Defamation League,
Richard Poplawski Selected On-Line Postings
, 39 (“I recently purchased some body armor from a friend”).

60
. “Poplawski's Vest Barred Cop Bullets, DA Says.”

61
. Posted on LetsGoPens website, Dec. 3, 2008, in Anti-Defamation League,
Richard Poplawski Selected On-Line Postings
, 40.

62
. “Wilkinsburg Gun Shop Tied to 2000 Rampage Sold Arms to Poplawski,”
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
, Apr. 8, 2009; “Poplawski Bought Guns Through Shop in Wilkinsburg.”

63
. “Putting the Pieces Together: Clinton to Comment on Tragedy in Address,”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
, Mar. 4, 2000.

64
. “Weapon Used in Shootings Bought Legally: Store in Wilkinsburg Sold Gun
in 1982,”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
, Mar. 3, 2000; “Wilkinsburg Gun Shop Tied to 2000 Rampage Sold Arms to Poplawski.”

65
. Posted on Stormfront website, in Anti-Defamation League,
Richard Poplawski Selected On-Line Postings
, 41. Right-wing conspiracy enthusiasts often use the acronyms SHTF (shit hits the fan) and TEOTWAWKI (the end of the world as we know it). Anti-Defamation League, “Extremism in the News: Richard Poplawski, the Making of a Lone Wolf,” Apr. 8, 2009.
www.adl.org/learn/extremism_in_the_news/White_Supremacy/poplawski%20report.htm
.

66
. “ ‘Truly a Tragic and Very Sorrowful Day' ”

67
. “Prosecution Rests: Jury Expected to Begin Deliberations Saturday Night,”
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
, June 24, 2011.

68
. “Gun Guide Goes to 911 Operators: Procedures Changed in Wake of Shootings,”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
, Apr. 9, 2009.

69
. “ ‘Truly a Tragic and Very Sorrowful Day' ”

70
. “Slain Officer's Wife Thought He Was Safe in Stanton Heights Shootout.” Time and distance obtained by Google map search.

71
. “911 Call Set Battle Plan in Motion: Accused Killer Put Bulletproof Vest On and Armed Himself,”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
, June 25, 2011; “Prosecution Rests.”

72
. “Details of Stanton Heights Police Shootings Emerge in Filings,”
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
, Apr. 5, 2009.

73
. “Prosecution Rests.”

74
. “911 Call Set Battle Plan in Motion.”

75
. Ibid.

76
. “Details of Stanton Heights Police Shootings Emerge in Filings.”

77
. “911 Call Set Battle Plan in Motion; “ A Day of Cowards and of Heroes': Prosecutors Present Graphic Evidence of 2009 Shooting Deaths of 3 Pittsburgh Police Officers,”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
, June 21, 2011.

78
. “Poplawski Trial Evidence Reveals a Bloody Scene: 900-Plus Rounds Found After Shootout,”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
, June 23, 2011.

79
. Ibid.; “Poplawski's Vest Barred Cop Bullets, DA Says.”

80
. “911 Call Set Battle Plan in Motion”; “Prosecution Rests”; “Medical Examiner: Kelly Shot Before Exiting His Vehicle,”
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
, June 20, 2011.

81
. “ A Day of Cowards and of Heroes' ”; “Slain Officer's Wife Thought He Was Safe in Stanton Heights Shootout.”

82
. “911 Call Set Battle Plan in Motion.”

83
. “Medical Examiner: Kelly Shot Before Exiting His Vehicle.”

84
. “Poplawski's Vest Barred Cop Bullets, DA Says.”

85
. “ A Day of Cowards and of Heroes.' ”

86
. “SWAT Officers Feared Ambush After Poplawski Surrendered.”

87
. “ A Day of Cowards and of Heroes.' ”

88
. “Talks Key to Poplawski's Arrest: ‘You Know, I'm a Good Kid, Officer.'—Richard Poplawski in His Surrender Call,”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
, June 22, 2011.

89
. Ibid.

90
. “911 Call Set Battle Plan in Motion.”

91
. “SWAT Officers Feared Ambush After Poplawski Surrendered.”

92
. Ibid.

93
. Ibid.

94
. “85- to 190-Year Term Added for Poplawski: ‘Let Him Recede into Distant Memory,' Prosecutor Urges at Sentencing for Convicted Police Killer,”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
, Sept. 7, 2011.

95
. For detailed discussions of the history of semiautomatic assault weapons, their marketing by the gun industry, and their impact in the United States, see the following reports, all of which are available on the Violence Policy Center's website,
www.vpc.org
: Violence Policy Center,
The Militarization of the U.S. Civilian Firearms Market
(June 2011); Violence Policy Center,
Target: Law Enforcement
—
Assault Weapons in the News, March 1, 2005-February 28, 2007
(Feb. 2010); and Violence Policy Center,
Bullet Hoses: Semiautomatic Assault Weapons
—
What Are They? What's So Bad About Them?
(May 2003).

96
. A considerable amount of energy is expended in distinguishing between clips and magazines as ammunition-holding devices, as the NRA itself points out in the following sections from its online glossary of gun-related terms. Purists insist that the word
magazine
can be applied only to a self-contained spring-loaded metal box into which ammunition is loaded. The box may be an integral part of the gun or a freestanding box that is inserted into the gun. The purists restrict the term
clip
to devices, often metal strips but not spring-loaded boxes, to which ammunition is attached. The ammunition from these devices is stripped off the device and into the gun by a variety of means. The NRAs glossary seems not to endorse this orthodoxy. Thus, “Clip. A device for holding a group of cartridges. Semantic wars have been fought over the word, with some insisting it is not a synonym for ‘detachable magazine.' For 80 years, however, it has been so used by manufacturers and the military. There is no argument that it can also mean a separate device for holding and transferring a group of cartridges to a fixed or detachable magazine or as a device inserted with cartridges into the mechanism of a firearm becoming, in effect, part of that mechanism.” By comparison, “Magazine. A spring-loaded container for cartridges that may be an integral part of the gun's mechanism or may be detachable. Detachable magazines for the same gun may be offered by the gun's manufacturer or other manufacturers with various capacities. A gun with a five-shot detachable magazine, for instance, may be fitted with a magazine holding 10, 20, or 50 or more rounds. Box magazines are most commonly located under the receiver with the cartridges stacked vertically. Tube or tubular magazines run through the stock or under the barrel with the cartridges lying horizontally. Drum magazines hold their cartridges in a circular mode. A magazine can also mean a secure storage place for ammunition or explosives.” “Glossary,” NRA Institute for Legislative Action,
http://nraila.org/glossary.aspx
.

97
. Chuck Taylor,
The Fighting Rifle: A Complete Study of the Rifle in Combat
(Boulder, CO: Paladin Press, 1984), 5.

98
. Duncan Long,
The Terrifying Three: Uzi, Ingram, and Intratec Weapons Families
(Boulder, CO: Paladin Press, 1989), 104.

99
. “W. Memphis Police to Carry Semiautomatic Rifles,”
Memphis Commercial Appeal
, June 29, 2010.

100
. Duncan Long,
Assault Pistols, Rifles and Submachine Guns
(Boulder, CO: Paladin Press, 1986), 1.

101
. See “How Effective Is Automatic Fire?”
American Rifleman
, May 1980, 30.

102
. Long,
Terrifying Three
, 11.

103
. See, e.g., “Calico M-100
Rifle? American Rifleman
, Jan. 1987, 60, 61 (“the full 100 rounds were sent downrange in 14 seconds by one flicker-fingered tester”).

104
. Ian Hogg,
Jane's Guns Recognition Guide
(Glasgow: HarperCollins, 2000), 302.

105
. Taylor,
Fighting Rifle
, 4.

106
. “History and Evolution of the M-16,”
West Point Parents Club of Georgia Newsletter
13 (Mar. 1999): 8.

107
. Joe Poyer,
The M16/AR15 Rifle: A Shooter's and Collector's Guide
(Tustin, CA: North Cape, 2000), 13.

108
. “Widening the Funnel,”
Shooting Wire
, Sept. 30, 2009,
www.shootingwire.com/archived/2009-09-30_swhtml
.

109
. For detailed discussions of the history of semiautomatic assault weapons, their marketing by the gun industry, and their impact in the United States, see Violence Policy Center,
Militarization of the U.S. Civilian Firearms Market
, Violence Policy Center,
Target: Law Enforcement
, and Violence Policy Center,
Bullet Hoses
.

110
. “Nation Seeing Rise in Killings,”
Augusta Chronicle
, May 16, 2012; “Even as Violent Crime Falls, Killing of Officers Rises,”
New York Times
, Apr. 9, 2012.

111
. “Nation Seeing Rise in Killings.”

112
. “Slain West Memphis Officers' Autopsies Released,”
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
, Aug. 27, 2010.

113
. “Anti-System Father, His Son Killed Officers: Ohioan Denied the Validity of Banks, U.S. Government,”
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
, May 22, 2010.

114
. “Contempt for the Law; the ‘Sovereign Citizen' Movement, Blamed for the Deaths of Six Police, Is Now on the FBI's Radar,”
Los Angeles Times
, Feb. 24, 2012. “This is a movement that has absolutely exploded,” Mark Potok, a senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, told the
Los Angeles Times
. According to the center, more than a hundred thousand Americans have aligned themselves with the sovereign citizens movement.

115
. “‘Outgunned': Chief Says Officers' Pistols No Match for Heavily Armed Teenager,”
Memphis Commercial Appeal
, May 26, 2010.

116
. “Suspects Tied to Violent Group: Trail of Guns, Warrants Spans Several States Before LaPlace,”
New Orleans Times-Picayune
, Aug. 18, 2012; “Two Deputies Are Shot and Killed in a Louisiana Ambush,”
New York Times, hug
. 17, 2012.

117
. “7 Arrested in Probe of La. Deputy Shootings,” Associated Press Online, Aug. 18, 2012.

118
. “Suspects Tied to Violent Group.”

119
. “DA to Seek Death Penalty in Slaying of Penn Hills Officer,”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
, Jan. 20, 2010; “Confession Details Events Leading to Police Officer's Killing,”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
, Dec. 19, 2009; “Parolee Held in Cop's Death: Suspect in Penn Hills Killings Could Have Served Time Until February,”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
,
Dec. 8, 2009; “Officer Responding to Pa. Home Disturbance Killed,”
News Journal
(Wilmington, DE), Dec. 7, 2009.