Interesting. An employee of shop where Paddock bought guns had been Cliven Bundy's bodyguard

[highplainsdem]

Last edited Wed Oct 4, 2017, 11:15 PM - Edit history (1)

Some details buried in a long article from the Daily Mail, whose main focus is a rifle Paddock bought just hours before arriving in Vegas, a rifle which wasn't found at the hotel:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4949534/Stephen-Paddock-bought-mystery-rifle-going-Vegas.html

A gunsmith at the store revealed Paddock was 'calm and normal' when he bought the weapon at around 3pm on September 28.

The worker, who goes by the name Skipper Speece, said it took around 20 minutes for the store to carry out vetting procedures and Paddock passed with flying colors – raising no alarm bells.

He then left the shop with the weapon but it's unclear what happened next.

Did he decide against taking the rifle to Vegas and left it at home or did he take it and leave it in his car?

Either way the gun was not included as part of Paddock's arsenal of death.

Skipper said Paddock was a regular visitor to the store and he had served him four times in total.

The gunsmith was bodyguard to Nevada cattle rancher Cliven Bundy, and was involved in the infamous 2014 Bunkerville ranch standoff.

The standoff involved an armed confrontation between supporters of Bundy and law enforcement following a 21-year legal dispute over grazing rights.

-snip-

'He passed all the vetting procedures, he has no criminal record, no one can understand why this happened.'

Skipper, who said Paddock had bought three other guns from the shop in the past, none of which were used in the shooting, says Mesquite is awash with gun enthusiasts like Paddock.

-snip-

'The guy was just a regular gun enthusiast, there was nothing special about him,' Skipper said.

'He's not religious, he never talked about religion, he never talked about politics.'

-snip-

But we already know from other stories that Paddock liked to talk about gun rights.

And this is Cliven Bundy's bodyguard who considered Paddock "just a regular gun enthusiast." So it's likely Paddock could have said lots of things that would seem extremist and alarming to us, that would have gone right past Speece, and right past anyone sharing his views (the shop owner, perhaps).

More on Speece in the article below, from last May. He's a Bundy family friend who organized a protest to raise money for a defense fund for Bundy and his cons.

http://lasvegas.cbslocal.com/2017/05/10/protesters-build-mock-bundy-cell/



Editing to add that Speece was with Bundy when he was arrested in Oregon last year:

https://www.rawstory.com/2016/02/busted-utah-rancher-and-right-wing-tax-dodging-darling-cliven-bundy-arrested-in-oregon/

Cliven Bundy, the scofflaw Nevada rancher whose dispute over grazing fees led to a 2014 armed showdown with the federal government, was arrested late Wednesday in Oregon as he went to lend support to armed militants holed up at a wildlife preserve.

The 74-year-old Bundy was charged with conspiracy to interfere with a federal officer — the same federal charge two of his sons face in connection with the Jan. 2 takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

The elder Bundy also faces weapons charges.

His bodyguard, Jonathan Speece, was reportedly questioned and released, and a second man traveling with them, Jason Blomgren, was also arrested on unspecified charges.

[UTUSN]

1. K&r

[highplainsdem]

2. Forbes reporter JJ MacNab has been tweeting about Speece, his FB accounts.

She writes about anti-government extremism, and she seems to find Speece interesting:

Link to tweet

Several linked tweets there, which include links to Speece's Facebook accounts.


She missed his Instagram account, which I found via one of his tweets, and I'll post that in another reply here.

[Leith]

3. During Sheriff Lombardi's Press Conference

I saw it at the beginning of All In with Chris Hayes. There was a question something like if there were more to Paddock than what the sheriff and the FBI were saying. Lombardi paused a bit, gave a telling stare at the reporter, and answered a quick and final "yes."

Did anybody else catch that?

Maybe I was just reading more into the press conference than there really was. When Lombardi said that Paddock started loading up on firepower last fall, I would swear I heard that it started in November. Hubby said that they had said October, not November.

Either way, there would be something in the news to set off a deranged idiot.

[highplainsdem]

5. Last fall? Do you remember Trump supporters then talking about civil war if Trump lost?

https://upload.democraticunderground.com/12512546433

[highplainsdem]

4. Speece's Instagram account:

https://www.instagram.com/devilsquidindustries/

[octoberlib]

7. This is interesting. Thanks for posting!

[octoberlib]

6. I was reading over the remarks the police

made at the press conference yesterday. They said that Paddock had an escape plan . 50 lbs of tannerite were found in his car and Lombardo said it was likely he had an accomplice because of all the firearms found in his homes , the tannerite and the electronic devices found in the Mesquite house. There are probably things the police aren’t telling us that leads them to believe this. “ We know that he had a girlfriend. Do you think this is all self-facing, individuals are just, without talking to somebody, sequestered amongst themselves? Come on , folks.” Sounds to me like they think the girlfriend isn’t telling them everything. Maybe that’s why he wanted the girlfriend to buy a house in the Philippines because he was planning on escaping.

[MrScorpio]

8. Coincidental acquaintances in Western gun nut circles probably arent uncommon

[highplainsdem]

9. Agree, & I'm not suggesting Speece himself was involved. The point I'm making is the sort of talk

that would be likely in these gun nut circles, especially at a store that would employ Speece.

What would be considered "normal" or "nonpolitical" in those circles probably wouldn't strike most DUers as either.

[Iggo]

10. I was trying to figure out how to put all that into one short sentence.

Thank you!

[Kaleva]

11. I've heard all kinnds of talk concerning Obama, Hillary and guns

Talk that passes for normal for where I live.

[hexola]

12. Read up on the connection between Mesquite and Bundy

Could be something - might be nothing...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundy_standoff

Las Vegas police stated that business owners in Mesquite had received threats because of the conflict.[69][70] Militiamen were reportedly seen carrying rifles, keeping a round-the-clock security detail on Bundy, and setting up checkpoints.

[highplainsdem]

13. Paddock already had a house in Reno but bought the Mesquite house soon after Bundy ranch standoff

He bought the Mesquite house in late 2014 or January 2015, according to the stories below (apparently told realtors he wanted the house in late 2014):

https://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/shootings/shooters-brother-we-have-no-idea-how-this-happened/

http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/04/us/paddock-profile-house-cash-fence-invs/index.html

According to the CNN story, he bought the house because it had a commanding hilltop view and was on a cul-de-sac with relative privacy...and he immediately put up a privacy fence that his HOA forced him to take down.

So he moves to an area where there'd already been a standoff, months earlier, between heavily armed men and federal authorities, and he buys a house that might seem like a good place for a standoff?

[Impk11]

14. There is more to this story.

The authorities have already ruled out a "foreign" terror connection. That kind of language suggests that they are still considering a domestic terror connection. This could be the domestic terror connection. The FBI currently considers this group the most dangerous domestic terror threat. The whole Bundy situation has only heated up over the past year. There is a whole list of characters involved with Bundy who are facing Federal charges.

A question that comes up is "why would a right wing extremist target a country music concert?"

The answer is because hardcore right wing NRA types hate pop-country. They think they are all liberal homosexuals giving country music a bad name. I know they specifically hate this new genre called hick hop or country rap. Jason Aldean(the guy playing when the shooting started) had a number-one country hit in 2011 with "Dirt Road Anthem," which is a country rap song.

I have a feeling 2 weeks into the investigation, it will turn out that Paddock was a right wing conspiracy type guy who hated the Federal government. We already know he was armed(although legally) by Bundy's men.