Oswald in the doorway: the blog of the Oswald Innocence Campaign, by Ralph Cinque

The issue of a person making a bag- an effective one, strong and sturdy enough to carry a rifle- from shipping paper needs to be examined. It can't be presumed. At least, not on my watch can it be presumed. 

Fortunately, it could be very easily tested. You give a group of people each a roll of shipping paper, a paper cutter, and presumably some tape or glue.

The adhesive part is a problem in itself because if Oswald used tape, then we should see the tape on the bag, especially since it would have taken quite a lot of tape. But, if you think he used glue, how? What reason is there to assume that there would be glue in a shipping room? They don't use glue to ship. They use tape. 

And remember that in this case, we're not just talking about using tape to tape the bag closed. We're talking about using tape to tape the bag together- to turn the pieces of the bag into a functional unit. Do you see any signs of tape here?

Or, do you think Oswald used glue even though you haven't provided a source for the glue? I know that adhesives are used in the manufacture of paper bags, but you can't compare that process to what Oswald could have done. Stop thinking that it's easy. Stop thinking that it is anything but an intricate, complex process. 

Well, I say we test it. We get a group of people, each working individually, they each get a paper roll, a paper cutter, and tape or glue, and they have to make a bag. Of course, it would have to be people who have no experience with making bags, no training at it, no exposure to it at all. And that includes most people. I've never tried to make a bag. Have you? We are NOT talking about wrapping something in paper. We are talking about making a bag and then putting the object in it. And in this case, the object would not be present while you were making the bag. 

Say we did that with a dozen people. Do you think any of them would produce something that looked like this?

 I'd be willing to bet that nothing remotely close to that would result from any of the efforts. 

This is doable. We could set it up.  Care to get involved?  Care to make it interesting?