Why did Oswald go get his revolver?

[John Corbett]

LHO’s employment at that point in time allowed him to learn some basic professional photograph processing techniques that he then apparently used to create a fake ID or two. LHO apparently used his newly fabricated fake ID name to order two very inexpensive firearms. He ordered the revolver first, on January 27th, 1963, then later he ordered the rifle on March 12, 1963.

Robert Oswald wrote in his book “Lee” that LHO enjoyed trying to “trick” the authorities. It appears to me that LHO was simply enjoying using his fake ID name to try to “trick” the gun sellers (and the shippers) into providing the guns to a fake person. LHO might have also thought that the fake name might make it harder for the authorities to trace the guns to LHO. However I will say that using his own P.O. Box as the shipping address does seem to me to be incredibly stupid.

Where else could he have it sent?

[Lance Payette]

Since Oswald bought the rifle in March, wouldn't it make more sense to check the ads back then.

Uh, no. Probably it would have made more sense right before the JFKA to ask himself "Shall I go to Irving and get the clunker rifle that is traceable to me out of Ruth Paine's garage, with all the risks that will entail, or should I check the classified ads for a better rifle that isn't traceable to me?" Indeed, in 1963 you could buy a gun in Texas or Arizona from a GUN DEALER with no ID at all.

[Charles Collins]

Where else could he have it sent?

I think opening up a separate P.O. Box for Alek Hidell would have been much more prudent. However, one needs to keep LHO’s extreme frugality in mind….


Per Google AI:

“in 1963, the Post Office Department (the predecessor to the USPS) did not require a verifiable previous address or a street address to open a P.O. box. During this era, applicants simply needed to fill out an application and prove their identity to rent a box.The requirement for a physical street address and two forms of identification (one to verify the applicant's identity and one to verify their physical residence) was introduced much later, primarily as a security and anti-fraud measure.”

[John Corbett]

I think opening up a separate P.O. Box for Alek Hidell would have been much more prudent. However, one needs to keep LHO’s extreme frugality in mind….


Per Google AI:

“in 1963, the Post Office Department (the predecessor to the USPS) did not require a verifiable previous address or a street address to open a P.O. box. During this era, applicants simply needed to fill out an application and prove their identity to rent a box.The requirement for a physical street address and two forms of identification (one to verify the applicant's identity and one to verify their physical residence) was introduced much later, primarily as a security and anti-fraud measure.”

That would seem out of character for a frugal Oswald. Why pay for two PO boxes? Oswald wasn't planning to assassinate JFK when he ordered the rifle. He may or may not have ordered it with the intent to kill Walker. If it was to kill Walker, it doesn't seem he was expecting to get away with it. If that was the case, why would he be concerned about whether the PO Box could be traced to him?

[Charles Collins]

That would seem out of character for a frugal Oswald. Why pay for two PO boxes? Oswald wasn't planning to assassinate JFK when he ordered the rifle. He may or may not have ordered it with the intent to kill Walker. If it was to kill Walker, it doesn't seem he was expecting to get away with it. If that was the case, why would he be concerned about whether the PO Box could be traced to him?

Let’s consider the revolver since he ordered it about six weeks before he ordered the rifle. It does seem reasonable that if he intended to use the revolver to shoot Walker, he most likely wouldn’t expect to get away with it because using a revolver would typically need to be at a relatively close range with other people being present. Under those conditions using a separate P.O. Box makes less sense.

However, it seems to me that by March 12, 1963 LHO had probably devised his plan to shoot at Walker with the rifle at night from behind the backyard fence and his expectations of getting away with it would have been more reasonable. In fact it appears that he planned to do just that (get away with it). And he apparently delighted in learning from the news accounts that the DPD apparently didn’t even consider that anyone would try to make an escape from the scene via public transportation. Under these conditions, using a separate P.O. Box would seem to me to make more sense. He wouldn’t need to maintain the P.O. Box any longer than it took to obtain his rifle. So the expense would have been minimal and prudent in my opinion.

[Martin Weidmann]

Let’s consider the revolver since he ordered it about six weeks before he ordered the rifle. It does seem reasonable that if he intended to use the revolver to shoot Walker, he most likely wouldn’t expect to get away with it because using a revolver would typically need to be at a relatively close range with other people being present. Under those conditions using a separate P.O. Box makes less sense.

However, it seems to me that by March 12, 1963 LHO had probably devised his plan to shoot at Walker with the rifle at night from behind the backyard fence and his expectations of getting away with it would have been more reasonable. In fact it appears that he planned to do just that (get away with it). And he apparently delighted in learning from the news accounts that the DPD apparently didn’t even consider that anyone would try to make an escape from the scene via public transportation. Under these conditions, using a separate P.O. Box would seem to me to make more sense. He wouldn’t need to maintain the P.O. Box any longer than it took to obtain his rifle. So the expense would have been minimal and prudent in my opinion.

Let's try to make sense of the Walker shooting.

First of all, I've always wondered how it came to be that reporters started asking questions about the Walker shooting so quickly after Oswald's arrest. What was it that linked Oswald to that shooting that reporters could have know so quickly?

But beyond that, if we assume that Oswald did order the revolver later used to kill Tippit instead of, as he claimed, buying one in Fort Worth, and if we assume that he also ordered the rifle with the intention to try and kill Walker, how in the world does that compute with him being photographed with a revolver and a rifle prior to the attempt?

I mean, this is somebody who wasn't known to own weapons, who allegedly orders a revolver and a rifle, in a traceable manner, when he easily could have bought untraceable weapons. Even worse, he then shows George de Mohrenschildt and Micheal Paine the rifle at the Neeley Street address and he has his picture taken with them. Seems a weird way to prepare for an attempt to murder somebody.

But it gets worse, he carries a rifle allegedly used in an attempted murder to New Orleans on public transport and when Marina was picked up by Ruth Paine he decided to wrap that rifle in a blanket, with a piece of string around it, and risk that it could be easily discovered only to leave it stored in a garage for two months where it was moved several times.

How does any of this make any sense?

[Martin Weidmann]

duplicate