A couple of things that struck me as being odd, from the article linked in Kevin's post above were these:

"Robert Barrkman, president of Phoenix-based Robar, makers of a powerful RC-50 'counter-sniper' rifle, recently told Jane's International Defense Review that 'the proliferation of the sniper weapons is one of the few growth areas for small-arms makers'.

The Robar RC-50 is capable of piercing an armoured vehicle or a helicopter a mile away. The company has sold 20,000 of the $5,000 civilian-adapted versions."

Does this imply that there are 20,000 complete and utter pillocks over in the United States of America who somehow forsee the need to be able to shoot through an armoured vehicle or a helicopter one mile distant??

The other statement from the article, that I found rather surreal:

"Latest theories on the identity of the shooter suggest he may be someone with police or paramilitary training. According to police, however, the rounds the sniper is using are not the type favoured by professional snipers but standard bullets for popular civilian semi-automatic assault rifles."

"popular civilian semi-automatic assault rifles." - Just what the hell are they when they're at home?? Why would any normal, sane law-abiding person wish to purchase and own a semi-automatic assault rifle - what do they figure they're going to use it for?