Bugliosi's "Conclusion of No Conspiracy"

[John Mytton]

14. The very rifle that Oswald owned and used to murder the president points away from a conspiracy. One thought that almost immediately occurred to me at the beginning of my research for the London trial was this: Why would whatever group (mob, CIA, KGB, etc.) that was allegedly behind Oswald furnish its hit man with a used, surplus, nineteen-dollar mail-order rifle (one that?get this?had a homemade sling)?50 Not that Oswald?s rifle wasn?t able to get the job done. Safely assuming that Kennedy?s head was the target of whoever pulled the Carcano trigger, one in three shots from the rifle did directly hit the target. But is it sense or nonsense to believe that members of a group like the CIA or mob or military-industrial complex, needing to make sure that Kennedy was killed, would let their hit man try to carry out the biggest murder ever with anything other than a very high-quality rifle? The fact that Oswald used the type of rifle he did is almost, by itself, prima facie evidence that he acted alone and there was no conspiracy. Oh, by the way, the clip on Oswald?s Carcano could hold six live rounds.51 But we know Oswald fired three rounds, and only one cartridge was found in the chamber,52 and the clip was empty.53 So the big group behind the assassination had its assassin set out on the morning of November 22 to kill the president of the United States with a clip that was missing two rounds.
RHVB



JohnM

[Ray Mitcham]

14. The very rifle that Oswald owned and used to murder the president points away from a conspiracy. One thought that almost immediately occurred to me at the beginning of my research for the London trial was this: Why would whatever group (mob, CIA, KGB, etc.) that was allegedly behind Oswald furnish its hit man with a used, surplus, nineteen-dollar mail-order rifle (one that?get this?had a homemade sling)?50 Not that Oswald?s rifle wasn?t able to get the job done. Safely assuming that Kennedy?s head was the target of whoever pulled the Carcano trigger, one in three shots from the rifle did directly hit the target. But is it sense or nonsense to believe that members of a group like the CIA or mob or military-industrial complex, needing to make sure that Kennedy was killed, would let their hit man try to carry out the biggest murder ever with anything other than a very high-quality rifle? The fact that Oswald used the type of rifle he did is almost, by itself, prima facie evidence that he acted alone and there was no conspiracy. Oh, by the way, the clip on Oswald?s Carcano could hold six live rounds.51 But we know Oswald fired three rounds, and only one cartridge was found in the chamber,52 and the clip was empty.53 So the big group behind the assassination had its assassin set out on the morning of November 22 to kill the president of the United States with a clip that was missing two rounds.
RHVB



JohnM

Might be interesting if it could be proved that Oswald owned and fired the rifle.

[John Mytton]

15. Additionally, if some group was behind Oswald?s killing of Kennedy, it obviously wouldn?t have had him use any rifle that was so easily traceable to him, as the Mannlicher-Carcano was, since he would be a link to the group.
RHVB



JohnM

[John Mytton]

16. If, indeed, groups like the CIA, mob, military-industrial complex, or whatever, were behind the assassination, not only would they have made sure their hit man had the best firearm available, but since they wouldn?t want him to be apprehended and questioned, they almost assuredly would have equipped the firearm with a sound suppressor, most commonly known as a silencer. Silencers go all the way back to the turn of the twentieth century, and a firearms expert for the Los Angeles Police Department told me that as of 1963 they were already sophisticated enough to ?substantially diminish the report? of the weapon and to ?alter or disguise the sound,? such as to make it sound like ?the hitting of a pile of wood with a hammer? or ?the operation of machinery.? He said silencers are effective, and shots at Kennedy from a weapon with the best silencer then available ?probably wouldn?t have even been heard above the background noise of the motorcade and crowd? in Dealey Plaza.5
RHVB



JohnM

[Martin Weidmann]

15. Additionally, if some group was behind Oswald?s killing of Kennedy, it obviously wouldn?t have had him use any rifle that was so easily traceable to him, as the Mannlicher-Carcano was, since he would be a link to the group.
RHVB



JohnM

Another pathetic argument that works both ways. One can just as easily say that it would be pretty stupid for Oswald to use a rifle that was so easily traceable to him as it turned out to be!

[Bill Chapman]

15. Additionally, if some group was behind Oswald?s killing of Kennedy, it obviously wouldn?t have had him use any rifle that was so easily traceable to him, as the Mannlicher-Carcano was, since he would be a link to the group.
RHVB


JohnM

[Matt Grantham]

 Using silencers would have  increased the appearance of a sophisticated attack, and have opened the public's imagination to the possibility of additional shots