I guess hunters DO use assault rifles.

Five Shot Dead in Wis. Hunting Dispute


BIRCHWOOD, Wis. - A dispute among deer hunters over a tree stand in northwestern Wisconsin erupted Sunday in a series of shootings that left five people dead and three others injured, officials said.

Jake Hodgkinson, a deputy at the county jail, identified the suspect as Chai Vang but would give no additional details. Several news organizations in Minneapolis-St. Paul reported the suspect was 36-years-old and from St. Paul.

The incident happened when two hunters were returning to their rural cabin on private land in Sawyer County and saw the suspect in one of their tree stands, County Chief Deputy Tim Zeigle said. A confrontation and shooting followed.

It's not known who shot first, Zeigle said.

Both men were wounded and one of them radioed back to the cabin. Other hunters responded and were shot, he said. Some of the victims may have shot back at the suspect, Zeigle said.

The suspect was "sniping" at the victims with a SKS assault-style rifle, Zeigle said. He was "chasing after them and killing them," he said.

The dead included four males, including a teenage boy, and a woman, Zeigle said. The man who radioed for help was not fatally wounded. Some of the victims were shot more than once.

All five were dead when officers arrived, he said.

Authorities found two bodies near each other and the other three were scattered around the area, which is near Town of Meteor in southwestern Sawyer County. Two people who stayed in the cabin emerged safely after the shootings.

The suspect, who did not have a compass, got lost in the woods and two other hunters, not knowing the man was being sought in the shootings, helped him find his way out, Zeigle said. When he emerged from the woods, a Department of Natural Resources officer recognized the deer license on his back, given to police by a victim, Zeigle said.

The man was out of bullets when they arrested him, Zeigle said.

One of the injured hunters was in critical condition at St. Joseph's Hospital. Another was listed in serious condition and the third was in fair condition, both at Lakeview Medical Center.

Wisconsin's statewide deer gun hunting season started Saturday and lasts for nine days.

Bill Wagner, 72, of Oshkosh, was about two miles away near Deer Lake with a party of about 20 other hunters. He said the incident was "very upsetting."

After they got word of a shooting, he and others went to round up the rest of the party. He said they heard sirens, planes and helicopters and noticed the surrounding roads blocked off.

"When you're hunting you don't expect somebody to try to shoot you and murder you," he said. "You have no idea who is coming up to you."

The incident won't stop their hunt, he said.

"We're all old, dyed-in-wool hunters," he said. "We wouldn't go home because of this but we will keep it in our minds. We're not forgetting it."

stockula said:
We prefer to call them sport utility rifles.

Here's a photo of the dreaded "assault rifle" this article said was used in this crime



An SKS. No pistol grip, no detachable magazine, a 10 round capacity. Entireley legal under the Assault Weapons Ban

[Edited on Nov 22, 2004 by stockula]

[Edited on Nov 22, 2004 by stockula]

"We're all old, dyed-in-wool hunters," he said. "We wouldn't go home because of this but we will keep it in our minds. We're not forgetting it."

stockula said:
We prefer to call them sport utility rifles.

Here's a photo of the dreaded "assault rifle" this article said was used in this crime



An SKS. No pistol grip, no detachable magazine, a 10 round capacity. Entireley legal under the Assault Weapons Ban.

While agreeing with you about it not being an assault rifle, it is categorised as a battle rifle. Also, though you can't see it because the front has been cut off in this picture but it also has a permanently attached fold-down bayonet. I'd like to know why a hunter would need a bayonet?

_Julie_ said:
Woah, Oshkosh is a real place? Rad.

germ13 said:
While agreeing with you about it not being an assault rifle, it is categorised as a battle rifle. Also, though you can't see it because the front has been cut off in this picture but it also has a permanently attached fold-down bayonet. I'd like to know why a hunter would need a bayonet?

stockula said:
An SKS. No pistol grip, no detachable magazine, a 10 round capacity. Entireley legal under the Assault Weapons Ban

2. Our right to own arms, guaranteed by the Constitution, wasn't out of consideration of hunters' tools. It was out of consideration of the other, and primary purpose of firearms: to kill people. Specifically, the power to kill people attempting to exert power over you and circumscribing your power over your own life.

StackedUpXXII said:

This is why the Assault Weapons Ban is a load of shit. It's a law aimed at pleasing a bunch of people who don't know much about firearms while not actually banning a whole lot.

The SKS is certainly an assault rifle. Anything chambered for the 7.62x39mm round (and semi- or full-auto, although I challenge you to point to a 7.62x39mm weapon that isn't at least semi-automatic) is designed to be a modern soldier's rifle.

Yeah, the Constitution says nothing about hunting, which is why a lot of the NRA's arguments are stupid. The wording of the 2nd Amendment, if I recall correctly, grants Americans the right to bear arms specifically because of the need for a "well regulated militia." The days are long gone when any kind of citizen's militia was an effective military fighting force. We don't need one, we don't have one, and if we did, they'd be nigh useless in repelling any kind of invasion.

Also, one can't fight any kind of modern military engagement without assault weapons. Seeing as America has already decided to ban assault weapons (or at least they THOUGHT they were going to ban assault weapons, but got a largely cosmetic piece of legislation instead), I think the 2nd Amendment has pretty much become moot. It doesn't apply to our time, and should be rewritten or repealed.

Entireley legal under the Assault Weapons Ban

germ13 said:
Also, though you can't see it because the front has been cut off in this picture but it also has a permanently attached fold-down bayonet. I'd like to know why a hunter would need a bayonet?

Lain said:

Until you start to pick off people in killing rampage.

JablesMcNugent said:
I just went outside to have a smoke, and my neighbors have fucking deer corpses hanging off their house, with pickup trucks parked in the front yard. Fucking hicks.

stockula said:
We prefer to call them sport utility rifles.

Here's a photo of the dreaded "assault rifle" this article said was used in this crime



An SKS. No pistol grip, no detachable magazine, a 10 round capacity. Entireley legal under the Assault Weapons Ban

JablesMcNugent said:
I just went outside to have a smoke, and my neighbors have fucking deer corpses hanging off their house, with pickup trucks parked in the front yard. Fucking hicks.

reprobate said:
The fact remains that a "law abiding" gun owner, with a completely legal weapon went postal and slaughtered five people. The fact that he had the high ground and a combat weapon, probably had something to do with that fact.