CAJUNLAWYER
Member
Things most people don’t understand about guns …
It’s actually hard to shoot someone. Movies and scriptwriters have always given the advantage in gun-play to the heroes. In the movies the hero drops the bad guy with one shot while running down a spiral staircase. Meanwhile the bad guys can’t seem to hit the hero with three sub-machine guns while he runs across the lobby. The best modern example is the Star Wars stormtroopers who never seem to hit anyone despite lots of firing. While the lack of accuracy by stormtroopers seems cliche, real combat is much like that - except soldiers make hits occasionally. Several soldiers will pump out a large volume of fire and hit their opponent once or twice to take him out of the fight. People move in unpredictable ways and directions and, depending on distance, it’s easier to miss than make a hit.
Bullets from handguns or rifles don’t knock people backwards several feet. Physics doesn’t work that way. A bullet powerful enough to knock a 180 pound man backwards would recoil enough to knock down the shooter as well.
When shooting at someone you often can’t tell if they’ve been hit. This is especially true if the person hit is on drugs or in panic mode with lots of adrenaline in his system. Most bullet wounds don’t gush blood on impact like Hollywood portrays. EMS personnel sometimes can’t find the entry wound on a gunshot victim because there is little bleeding. An exit wound will often be larger and bleed a lot more but not always. The human body can be weird that way.
Even if you manage to shoot someone, it doesn’t mean they will be stopped. Even when people aren’t on drugs handguns often don’t cause them to fall down or stop what they were doing. Police have documented cases where officers have shot someone 12, 15, 18, and even 20 times and they survived (with prompt medical attention). Handguns are notoriously “weak” in stopping people immediately. Even a rifle doesn’t guarantee someone will be stopped but it’s much more likely to incapacitate or kill someone than with a handgun.
Shotguns put out more lead, and faster, than an “assault weapon”. A standard 12-gauge shotgun shell can hold between 9 and 41 pellets (lead spheres) of buckshot. The most common buckshot is #00 (“double-aught” buck) with 9 pellets of .33″ diameter per shell. Each pull of the trigger sends 9 projectiles downrange like an angry swarm of bees. A shotgun that holds 4 shells can send 36 projectiles as fast as the user can fire the gun. Where most “assault weapons” hold 30 rounds, a “tactical” shotgun with an 8 round magazine can launch 72 projectiles in the time the assault weapon can fire 30 rounds. The difference is the shotgun’s range is more limited and less accurate.
Fully-automatic weapons are less lethal in use than semi-automatic weapons. The main purpose of a full-auto weapon (machine gun) is to saturate a given area and force your enemy to keep under cover instead of shooting back as your soldiers attack his position. Most of the ammo fired from a machine gun doesn’t hit anyone. But using slower, aimed, semi-automatic fire is more accurate and often more lethal because hits are aimed at the upper body (as opposed to random hits on extremities from full-auto fire). Remember the 1997 North Hollywood Shootout? That’s where two men wearing body armor and armed with illegal automatic rifles robbed a bank and had a dramatic shoot-out with LAPD. During that 45 minute battle over 2,000 rounds were fired, mostly by the suspects. Yet, out of all that gunfire, the only fatalities were the two gunmen (and one was a fatal self-inflicted wound). Twenty people were wounded, including 12 police officers which means only 1% of the shots even hit anyone.
“Assault weapon” and “Saturday Night Special” are bogus terms. The language we use has some bogus terms. The term “assault weapon” has no definitive meaning and is favored by the gun control lobby. They like the term because it confuses the lay public into thinking of machine guns instead of a semi-automatic rifle. It makes it easier to garner support for legislation. There is a legitimate term of assault rifle in military circles, but such weapons are also classified (in the U.S.) as machine guns so they are not available for sale in most gun stores. “Assault weapons” used politically includes some handguns and shotguns — neither of which the military use to “assault” enemy positions. The term Saturday Night Special has racist roots. It dates back to the old post-antebellum south when blacks lived in segregated parts of a town and people were paid in cash on Friday night. Saturday nights could be wild nights of bar fights over women, gambling, and insults. (Warning: racist term ahead) The common reference used was “Saturday night in ******town” and the “Saturday Night Special” was an inexpensive or cheaply made handgun firing a low powered cartridge (typically .22 or .32 caliber) which working blacks could afford. To politicians a “Saturday night special” is any small, concealable, handgun priced well below the major brands.
Hollow-point bullets don’t explode on impact and they aren’t “dum-dum” bullets. Bullets come in a dizzying array of sizes, shapes and styles for different uses. The modern hollow-point bullet that emerged in the 20th century doesn’t explode or disintegrate on contact as some people believe. (Bullets with explosive charges are heavily restricted by law). Modern bullets can be best described as controlled expansion bullets. The hollow-point bullet expands when it encounters tissue of a game animal or a person and this does two things. It slows the bullet down dramatically and it creates a wound that is larger, resulting in blood loss which incapacitates faster. The faster you incapacitate an attacker the fewer times you need to shoot him to get him to stop. The fewer times he’s shot the better his chances of survival. And because the expanding bullet tends to stop inside the target there is a much lower risk of the bullet injuring someone behind the targeted subject.
Cajun talking. "Post-antebellum" south is the mark of a person who doesn't know theit latin. It is either antebellum or postbellum It is not "after before war" Jeeze!
It’s actually hard to shoot someone. Movies and scriptwriters have always given the advantage in gun-play to the heroes. In the movies the hero drops the bad guy with one shot while running down a spiral staircase. Meanwhile the bad guys can’t seem to hit the hero with three sub-machine guns while he runs across the lobby. The best modern example is the Star Wars stormtroopers who never seem to hit anyone despite lots of firing. While the lack of accuracy by stormtroopers seems cliche, real combat is much like that - except soldiers make hits occasionally. Several soldiers will pump out a large volume of fire and hit their opponent once or twice to take him out of the fight. People move in unpredictable ways and directions and, depending on distance, it’s easier to miss than make a hit.
Bullets from handguns or rifles don’t knock people backwards several feet. Physics doesn’t work that way. A bullet powerful enough to knock a 180 pound man backwards would recoil enough to knock down the shooter as well.
When shooting at someone you often can’t tell if they’ve been hit. This is especially true if the person hit is on drugs or in panic mode with lots of adrenaline in his system. Most bullet wounds don’t gush blood on impact like Hollywood portrays. EMS personnel sometimes can’t find the entry wound on a gunshot victim because there is little bleeding. An exit wound will often be larger and bleed a lot more but not always. The human body can be weird that way.
Even if you manage to shoot someone, it doesn’t mean they will be stopped. Even when people aren’t on drugs handguns often don’t cause them to fall down or stop what they were doing. Police have documented cases where officers have shot someone 12, 15, 18, and even 20 times and they survived (with prompt medical attention). Handguns are notoriously “weak” in stopping people immediately. Even a rifle doesn’t guarantee someone will be stopped but it’s much more likely to incapacitate or kill someone than with a handgun.
Shotguns put out more lead, and faster, than an “assault weapon”. A standard 12-gauge shotgun shell can hold between 9 and 41 pellets (lead spheres) of buckshot. The most common buckshot is #00 (“double-aught” buck) with 9 pellets of .33″ diameter per shell. Each pull of the trigger sends 9 projectiles downrange like an angry swarm of bees. A shotgun that holds 4 shells can send 36 projectiles as fast as the user can fire the gun. Where most “assault weapons” hold 30 rounds, a “tactical” shotgun with an 8 round magazine can launch 72 projectiles in the time the assault weapon can fire 30 rounds. The difference is the shotgun’s range is more limited and less accurate.
Fully-automatic weapons are less lethal in use than semi-automatic weapons. The main purpose of a full-auto weapon (machine gun) is to saturate a given area and force your enemy to keep under cover instead of shooting back as your soldiers attack his position. Most of the ammo fired from a machine gun doesn’t hit anyone. But using slower, aimed, semi-automatic fire is more accurate and often more lethal because hits are aimed at the upper body (as opposed to random hits on extremities from full-auto fire). Remember the 1997 North Hollywood Shootout? That’s where two men wearing body armor and armed with illegal automatic rifles robbed a bank and had a dramatic shoot-out with LAPD. During that 45 minute battle over 2,000 rounds were fired, mostly by the suspects. Yet, out of all that gunfire, the only fatalities were the two gunmen (and one was a fatal self-inflicted wound). Twenty people were wounded, including 12 police officers which means only 1% of the shots even hit anyone.
“Assault weapon” and “Saturday Night Special” are bogus terms. The language we use has some bogus terms. The term “assault weapon” has no definitive meaning and is favored by the gun control lobby. They like the term because it confuses the lay public into thinking of machine guns instead of a semi-automatic rifle. It makes it easier to garner support for legislation. There is a legitimate term of assault rifle in military circles, but such weapons are also classified (in the U.S.) as machine guns so they are not available for sale in most gun stores. “Assault weapons” used politically includes some handguns and shotguns — neither of which the military use to “assault” enemy positions. The term Saturday Night Special has racist roots. It dates back to the old post-antebellum south when blacks lived in segregated parts of a town and people were paid in cash on Friday night. Saturday nights could be wild nights of bar fights over women, gambling, and insults. (Warning: racist term ahead) The common reference used was “Saturday night in ******town” and the “Saturday Night Special” was an inexpensive or cheaply made handgun firing a low powered cartridge (typically .22 or .32 caliber) which working blacks could afford. To politicians a “Saturday night special” is any small, concealable, handgun priced well below the major brands.
Hollow-point bullets don’t explode on impact and they aren’t “dum-dum” bullets. Bullets come in a dizzying array of sizes, shapes and styles for different uses. The modern hollow-point bullet that emerged in the 20th century doesn’t explode or disintegrate on contact as some people believe. (Bullets with explosive charges are heavily restricted by law). Modern bullets can be best described as controlled expansion bullets. The hollow-point bullet expands when it encounters tissue of a game animal or a person and this does two things. It slows the bullet down dramatically and it creates a wound that is larger, resulting in blood loss which incapacitates faster. The faster you incapacitate an attacker the fewer times you need to shoot him to get him to stop. The fewer times he’s shot the better his chances of survival. And because the expanding bullet tends to stop inside the target there is a much lower risk of the bullet injuring someone behind the targeted subject.
Cajun talking. "Post-antebellum" south is the mark of a person who doesn't know theit latin. It is either antebellum or postbellum It is not "after before war" Jeeze!
Last edited:
