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