OregonVet: The scary tag could have been passed over on this one subby.

Obvious tag was taken out by the sniper?

Wasn't a sniper at a football game the plot of a movie?

We REALLY don't like Brady in Indianapolis. Thankfully we didn't have to use our ace-in-the-hole to help Brother Eli.

I'd be more surprised if the police didn't take this precaution.

Summation of this thread:

"OMG, assault rifles! Erosion of freedoms! Police state! Why is our culture so gun-obsessed? The terrorists have won."

"Well, actually, that's a rivet-action MR-523 Swizzlewitz Sandblaster, and here's 52 gun-porn images of same. I have seven myself. Pussy"

Can Wes Welker catch a bullet...pass?

Sniper > Tebow

Um....good. How is this scary?

So Welker DIDN'T "drop" the ball!

Pontious Pilates: Summation of this thread:

"OMG, assault rifles! Erosion of freedoms! Police state! Why is our culture so gun-obsessed? The terrorists have won."

"Well, actually, that's a rivet-action MR-523 Swizzlewitz Sandblaster, and here's 52 gun-porn images of same. I have seven myself. Pussy"

Too soon, bro, too soon.

Wow, an article where they label the weapon correctly as a sniper rifle. Not an assault rifle specially modified to fire AK-47 bullets in the hands of a crazed, yet uniformed, gunman!

ElusiveWookiee: Um....good. How is this scary?

It's scary because so many people hate you that you can't have a football game without looking under your bed for terrorists.

Krieghund: Pontious Pilates: Summation of this thread:

"OMG, assault rifles! Erosion of freedoms! Police state! Why is our culture so gun-obsessed? The terrorists have won."

"Well, actually, that's a rivet-action MR-523 Swizzlewitz Sandblaster, and here's 52 gun-porn images of same. I have seven myself. Pussy"

Really? Cause so far, it's been a big collective "meh"

Yeah, I might've been a quick on the trigger (ha). I saw this story on another forum, and that's exactly what the thread turned into. Farkers are probably over all that by now. My bad.

Subby, that is the only reason why I watched the superbowl. Actually, I was trying to spot people being tased by hotdog vendors.

/There's always next year. :(

Krieghund: Really? Cause so far, it's been a big collective "meh"

And THAT is why we have the SCARY tag. The fact that a major public event like this can be surrounded by an invisible Rethuglican death squad like this, and the general reaction is "Yeah, we call that Sunday."

Sad to see what this country has become.

I just assumed they did this for all large sporting events.

KangTheMad: Wasn't a sniper at a football game the plot of a movie?

Two-Minute Warning. During the height of the disaster movie era.

KangTheMad: Wasn't a sniper at a football game the plot of a movie?

The Last Boy Scout

ElusiveWookiee: Um....good. How is this scary?

I tend to be scared of real things like actual hidden and largely unaccountable snipers over my head, not imaginary attackers with unrealistic plots that are largely the result of a politician's fevered attempts at reelection

But that's just me.

/ alternatively, we could point out that this actually cost real taxpayer money even though it's aimed at a largely made up problem

aspAddict: Krieghund: Really? Cause so far, it's been a big collective "meh"

And THAT is why we have the SCARY tag. The fact that a major public event like this can be surrounded by an invisible Rethuglican death squad like this, and the general reaction is "Yeah, we call that Sunday."

Sad to see what this country has become.

0/10

In this day and age, having police around in this capacity is a must. Otherwise it would be easy prey for the mentally unstable, or otherwise criminally insane.

They're not taking any chances.

Two seconds after the end of the game there is so much noise and confetti coming down that you wouldn't hear an Elephant gun go off and the snipers would be totally blind.

Strategeryz0r: aspAddict: Krieghund: Really? Cause so far, it's been a big collective "meh"

And THAT is why we have the SCARY tag. The fact that a major public event like this can be surrounded by an invisible Rethuglican death squad like this, and the general reaction is "Yeah, we call that Sunday."

Sad to see what this country has become.

0/10

In this day and age, having police around in this capacity is a must. Otherwise it would be easy prey for the mentally unstable, or otherwise criminally insane.

Come on. You gotta give him at least two creativity points for "invisible Rethuglican death squad."

Aww, I was hoping to spot it in the Gigapan image from a few days ago. Too bad it's in the wrong end of the stadium to see.

scottydoesntknow: Camper

damnitsomuch

Why wasn't it used on M.I.A.?

Link (new window)
I spotted him. Can you?

Sorry, that didn't work!

ThisKidsAlright: Link (new window)
I spotted him. Can you?

Nope. Wow, he's that good. He busted your HTML.

FTFA: "It's just never a bad idea to have a sniper rifle around."

I agree.

In this day and age, having police around in this capacity is a must. Otherwise it would be easy prey for the mentally unstable, or otherwise criminally insane.

So the criminally insane did not attack the super bowl because of unknown, hidden snipers?

People have attacked the president even when it's well-known he is surrounded by armed guards.

A crummy commercial?!

Link (new window)

B-E-S-U-R-E-T-O-B-U-Y-A-N-A-L-A-M-O-F-O-U-R-S-T-A-R-D-C-L-W-T-R-I-P-O - D

This is common practice. Although those photos at the end of the article bother me. The way I see it typically being done is guys with binoculars monitoring the crowd and of course I'm sure they have rifles within easy reach. These photos show cops sitting there on their butt and they appear to be moving the rifle over the crowd.

That breaks one of the key rules of using a gun: "Never point the gun at anything you mind being dead".

While not having to reach for the gun does save a few seconds, the risk of an accidental discharge really makes point the gun at the crowd unacceptable IMHO.

I imagine superbowl snipers have prevented about as many attacks as the TSA. But go ahead and keep pointing rifles at unarmed civilians, it makes you look ever so sane.

Why is this even news? Every high-profile event has security like this. While everyone is wetting their pants over a police sniper, the 2012 Olympics in London are getting ready to deploy anti-aircraft missiles, attack heli's and warships. Having a police sharpshooter at the Super Bowl is such an incredibly stupid thing to get bent out of shape over.

Pontious Pilates: Come on. You gotta give him at least two creativity points for "invisible Rethuglican death squad."

I'll take the two points and count myself lucky to have them. :)

scottydoesntknow: Camper

Win

MugzyBrown: In this day and age, having police around in this capacity is a must. Otherwise it would be easy prey for the mentally unstable, or otherwise criminally insane.

So the criminally insane did not attack the super bowl because of unknown, hidden snipers?

People have attacked the president even when it's well-known he is surrounded by armed guards.

It's called a sensible security measure. The general public is not aware these guys are there, otherwise they might freak out at the sight of heavily armed police at an otherwise peaceful sporting event. But should something actually happen, you would be thanking the same man you're trying to tear down.

Get the idea that everything is peaceful and happy out of your head, and realize the world is actually quite a dangerous place. Even without a direct threat against an event of this nature, it simply makes sense to take precautions for any potential outcome. Face it, a large sporting event like this is a juicy target for a lot of people out there in this world. Whether that be terrorist, gun-crazed anti-obama tea-baggers trying to make a point, or just some nut looking for attention because his wife farked Tom Brady.

It's the police departments mission to protect the public at large. And when the public gathers in such large numbers, at a rather vulnerable target(like a stadium), they kind of have an obligation to take security measures like this.

Scary tag = inappropriate no matter how you look at it. This is a good thing, and anyone who disagrees is a delusional moron at best. It's not like it's farkin blackwater sitting up there picking off anyone they damn well please. These guys are trained to do this for christ sake.

ha-ha-guy: This is common practice. Although those photos at the end of the article bother me. The way I see it typically being done is guys with binoculars monitoring the crowd and of course I'm sure they have rifles within easy reach. These photos show cops sitting there on their butt and they appear to be moving the rifle over the crowd.

That breaks one of the key rules of using a gun: "Never point the gun at anything you mind being dead".

While not having to reach for the gun does save a few seconds, the risk of an accidental discharge really makes point the gun at the crowd unacceptable IMHO.

The followup article Mister Pleco linked states these photos were only taken for publicity in an empty stadium, and that during the game only binoculars were used and the gun was not mounted.

Half Right: I bet they'd also buy some tinfoil

Right. Pointing out the and undisputed fact that there are armed police forces sweeping a loaded weapon across spectators at a major sporting event is conspiracy theory nonsense....

... but setting up armed police forces to sweep loaded weapons across spectators at a major sporting event because you think some shadowy organization of questionable force strength may pull off a non-specific action-movie-style attack on that event, toward which no known specific threat has actually been directed, is perfectly reasonable and level-headed.

Cobra Commander isn't real. I realize 9/11 was a really big and really loud thing, but that alone isn't proof that we need to lose our collective shiat and start running around in full S.W.A.T. gear all the time. Individual and unusual data points don't make a trend.

And, again, even if you aren't concerned with the security theater implications of having commandos running about the streets in full armor carrying powerful automatic weapons, all that shiat, and all the time they're doing it, isn't exactly free.

Stop being a coward. Terrorists aren't going to kill you and even if they try, odds are pretty bad that the maniacs with heavy weaponry are going to be able to stop them.

Strategeryz0r:

Get the idea that everything is peaceful and happy out of your head

"Life is pain. Get used to it!"

This is one of those situations where a lot of people criticize the police/government/stadium/big brother of wasting money and taking excessive risks.

Then if he wasn't there, when something happens and lives could have been saved by the quick response of a trained sniper, they criticize again about the lack of planning.

I personally love the fact that a trained sniper was watching over the game. Great job guys!