Turns out the Kansas City Mall shooter was another prohibited person. This guy actually was committed involuntarily to a mental institution. For a whole six hours. As best I can find from news source he was armed with a .22LR pistol, and what is described as a .30 caliber carbine rifle, with a 20 round magazine. I’m guessing an M1 Carbine, World War II era rifle. So much for the AK-47 originally reported by Fox.
We have to be ready for a fight over mental health issues in firearms ownership. I think it’s acceptable for people who’ve been found, after due process, to be mentally incompetent, from possessing arms. But the other side will want to push this as far as they can. We have to be ready to stop them. Otherwise that therapist who prescribed you some Prozac to get over a bout of depression in your 20s is going to be enough to get you on the list of prohibited persons.
Has the rifle been definitely identified? I couldn’t find anything on it.
7.62mm is equivalent to .30 caliber so the press reporting it as a .30 caliber carbine doesn’t rule out an AK clone or an SKS. Heck the press generally couldn’t identify an AK clone or SKS if the pictures came with captions.
Doesn’t rule it out, but combined with the 20 round mag, specific use of “.30 caliber semi-automatic carbine” lead me to speculate the M1 Carbine. AKs typically have 30 round magazines (though they make 20), and although they are technically carbines, you don’t generally hear to them referred to as such.
But it is still speculation on my part, though the evidence seems to point to it.