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From: garys@bunker.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: Re: Re: handgun control
Message-ID: <645@bunker.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 3-Jan-85 13:53:06 EST
Article-I.D.: bunker.645
Posted: Thu Jan  3 13:53:06 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 8-Jan-85 13:08:07 EST
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Organization: Bunker Ramo, Trumbull Ct
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> > If all criminals were armed only with knives there would be a lot more
> > victims alive today.
> 
> I suspect that many more victims would be seriously injured and maimed
> for life if knifing attacks were more common. When you consider the
> difference between being shot with a .22, where the bullet probably
> passes right though you and mainly causes a lot of bleeding, and having
> your stomach ripped open with a 8" knife... With higher caliber guns,
> of course, the damage is greater, but since most handguns are things
> like .22's and short .38's, it seems that the damage done would be much
> less.
> 
> 	Wayne

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.

Gary Samuelson
ittvax!bunker!garys