Ottawa Attacker Used Lever Action Rifle, Not an ‘Assault Weapon’
By AWR Hawkins
When recent Islamic convert Michael Zehif-Bibeau carried out the October 22 terror attack in Ottawa he used a lever action 30-30 rifle, not an “assault weapon.”
To be specific, he used a Winchester Model 94 30-30–one of the oldest and most recognizable guns in of all North America, if not the world.
The Model 94 holds 7 rounds–8 if you have one chambered–and is not a semi-automatic firearm (the lever on the gun has to be manually cocked between each shot).
CBCNews Canada reports that Zehif-Bibeau fired three shots at the War Memorial before he even entered Parliament. Of those three, two were fired at Cpl. Nathan Cirillo and one at the other soldier who was also serving “in the honor guard.” This left him with 5 shots maximum.
CBCNews believes this relatively small amount of ammo explains why he walked past so many individuals between the War Memorial and Parliament, without trying to take anyone else’s life. He wanted to spend those remaining bullets on MPs.
It should be noted that Zehif-Bibeau was “under a criminal prohibition from possessing firearms.” However, that did not stop him. Zehif-Bibeau “had no fixed address”–which by itself brings another law into play banning him from getting a firearms license and, in turn, prohibits him from possessing a firearm. But that did not stop him either.
Right now investigators believe there are three options for how Zehif-Bibeau obtained the rife: Either he stole it, bought it “on the black market,” or was given the rifle by someone who did not know the many prohibitions barring Zehif-Bibeau from having one.