Forgive me if this is an old idea already discarded.

I would like to suggest a variation on the MR gun and training. I would like to see the gun and the hitter separated. Hitters tend to use silenced weapons, either very close to the target or very far away. Shooters, on the other hand, use various unsilenced weapons and are hardly concerned with pinpoint accuracy. My point here is that MR could add a training regiment that keeps the crews shooters trained up, while separating out hitters. Shooters dont go around shooting MIA and such, they just train up at the range on whatever weapon the leader has purchased. I would like to see tiered weapons, maybe everyone starts out with a .38 but a well funded leader could upgrade the arsenal to include tommy guns. The individual shooter, would have to keep his .38 trained for defensive shooting or last minute attack orders, and also keep the armory weapons trained up, he could also not train his .38 to be ready for a pro shot while being fully proficient with the tommy gun. In any case this training would have to be done daily to be 100%. I could see where a man could empty his 6 shot revolver or a 25 shot tommy gun with each round of attack/defend depending on what his leader could afford. These shooters would probably be able to kill/wound most any body guards and have a decent chance at unprotected mobsters if fully trained up. But they would be no match for a protected mobster. Thus nearly everyone in the crew can be relied upon to shoot and kill BG's and low defended members in a war.

Hitters could follow another path, or the same one we already have. The difference would be that they actually kill folks to train up where shooters dont, and they never lose proficiency once gained. This could also be tiered, maybe a close range silenced .22 path and a long range rifle path. They should be able to move quicker and have a much smaller chance of dying in return fire. They should be hard to see and they, being low profile, should be paid on the contracts they fullfill not the crimes they commit. These contracts should in some way be purchased by their leaders, limited only by the funds available. Hitters should be able to improve their equipment in lue of bodyguards, since what hitter goes around with a hundred of his closest friends. I would like to see the hitters, true killers in MR, at least wear some of the blood they spill. Being a killer means staying out of the spotlight, it means doing to the dirty work alone, taking out the trash. They dont usually run the family. This is not meant in any way to be disrespectful to anyone presently leading a family with a cannon at their disposal :)

Bennie

Why? Its a roleplaying game, and the whole messy thing of killing is left intentionally ambiguous. You wanna be a Sniper killing your targets from half a city away, that's your prerogative, if you wanna double tap someone in the back of the head, then do that too... hell write up a quick blurb and put it in your death message so that the guy you killed knows you shot him from 1000 yrds away and maybe oly 9 or 10 guys in the world could make that shot.

There is no point in unnecessarily cluttering the whole kill/wack system, as it is free flowing and easy now. The only reason MIAs and RIAs where introduced was to help create a balance between low power players, high power players and the million bodyguard army.

This is the 20s/30s and the proliferation of hitmen is slim on the ground. Most Mafia crimelords would be using their most trusted men for hits, such as the St Valentines Day Masacre, using Tommy guns and superior numbers, or the assassination of Joey Gallo, or that of Paul "Big Paulie" Castellano or even Albert Anastasia. Traditionally, Mafia use hitmen for assassinating political rivals, police or 'paid for' targets, reserving more traditional deaths for their own kind in order to send a message, and all we ever kill in MR is our own kind.

Just my two cents worth.