Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 8/23/84; site ucbcad.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!bellcore!decvax!ucbvax!ucbcad!faustus From: faustus@ucbcad.UUCP Newsgroups: net.politics Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: handgun control Message-ID: <48@ucbcad.UUCP> Date: Fri, 4-Jan-85 17:10:10 EST Article-I.D.: ucbcad.48 Posted: Fri Jan 4 17:10:10 1985 Date-Received: Tue, 8-Jan-85 13:14:16 EST References: <245@gargoyle.UChicago.UUCP> Organization: UC Berkeley CAD Group, Berkeley, CA Lines: 33 > Actually, a .22 bullet doesn't have enough power to pass completely > through a person's body, especially if it happens to hit a bone. > In the latter case, it tends to bounce around and rip things up. > This is according to a friend of mine who owns several firearms, > including a .22 revolver, a .45 automatic, at least one rifle, > and I don't know what else. He also told me about someone he knew > whose .22 revolver discharged while in his holster. The bullet > entered his thigh, and, due to the spin, spiralled around his > femur a couple of times, coming to rest next to the bone. > > The higher calibers, on the other hand, can pass right through > a person's body, but it leaves a hole shaped like a cone, with > the vertex at the point of entry, like the hole made by a BB > hitting a window, as the force of impact spreads radially. The > exit hole can be several inches in diameter. Very messy. > > It's amazing how people on both sides of an issue, any issue, > will grasp at any argument to support their position. To say > that a gunshot wound is likely to be less severe than a knife > wound is ludicrous, and incredible (i.e., not credible). (If > you really believe that a knife can cause more damage, why do > you insist on having a gun?) To use such a shoddy argument > weakens your entire position, at least in my opinion. I wasn't arguing for or against gun control, I was just making the point that there are many ways to kill people, and guns aren't always the worst way. I've never been attacked with either a knife or a gun, so I can't give the best information about this kind of thing, but I'm told that a large sharp knife can do a lot more damage than a small-caliber gun (the most common), and the wound can take a lot longer to heal. Wayne