Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site bunker.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!bellcore!decvax!ittvax!bunker!garys 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 References: <162@mhuxr.UUCP><1296@dciem.UUCP> <407@whuxl.UUCP> <44@ucbcad.UUCP> Organization: Bunker Ramo, Trumbull Ct Lines: 40 > > 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