The knockdown power of handguns

[bill o]

I thought this anecdote was pretty interesting.

What I learned from getting shot - Salon.com

...A second or two lapsed — long enough for me to recognize they weren’t joking, but not long enough for me to beg — before it discharged clap clap clap; my body torqued into the air horizontally, like I’d been blindsided by a linebacker, and I fell to the ground.

The kids fled east in a hurry, the same direction we’d come from down Euclid street. I stood up right away. Strangely I felt fine. Something had knocked the wind out of me, and my shoulder hurt a little bit, but ridiculously in hindsight we concluded it was an extremely effective prank. Rubber bullets. Something. If it’d been a real gun, I wouldn’t be standing.

Shake it off, I told myself, then onward to the diner.

Half a block later I didn’t feel so good anymore. I removed my T-shirt (a red one, inconveniently) and realized it had masked a badly bleeding shoulder wound. My adrenaline-fueled defiance gave way to the gory injury staring me in the face, and some important things dawned on me: I’d been shot. We were within firing distance of at least two armed men willing to commit murder. They hadn’t taken any of the things they’d claimed to want. And, oh yeah, I’d been shot.

...

In my case there were three bullets, including the one in my shoulder, and the injuries were pretty severe. Punctured lung, punctured diaphragm, punctured stomach, ruptured spleen, broken ribs, a hematoma on my kidney. One bullet tunneled harmlessly around the bones and muscles in my shoulder and remains lodged in a back rib on the upper-left side of my body. Doctors removed another with my spleen. The third missed both my aorta and my spine by an inch or less, exited my back and landed on Euclid Street. A little this way and I’d be paralyzed. A little that way and I’d have bled out before the ambulance arrived...

 

[BillO]

There was a story about a drugged out guy shot by police a gazillion times and he kept on coming.
People overestimate the "stopping power" of handguns; probably influenced by action movies.

 

[jtorbin88]

2 In the chest 1 In the head that'll stop anything lol.

 

[Golddiggie]

There was a story about a drugged out guy shot by police a gazillion times and he kept on coming.
People underestimate the "stopping power" of handguns; probably influenced by action movies.

You mean overestimate, right?

Just one of the reasons why being limited to 10 (or less) rounds in a handgun is just stupid. The guy was probably (didn't read the story from the link) shot with a 9mm.

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2 In the chest 1 In the head that'll stop anything lol.

Not always... Shot placement and rounds used count for a lot. Typically you aim for center of mass (or center of chest/heart area) for body shots. Head shots are usually 'lights out' shots, but still depends on other factors. There are people who have been shot in the head and survived. Some without any side effects from being shot.

 

[Deleted member 12999]

I teach people to shoot 'center of available mass'

I know it's a distinction without a difference with regard to the term 'center mass', but my internet OCD forces me to type this.

 

[Pilgrim]

never underestimate the knock down power of a handgun:

 

[taz-2005]

never underestimate the knock down power of a handgun:

There's the replacement for the M9. For the troops who can't handle the 500 they can have a 460.

 

[Supermoto]

my body torqued into the air horizontally, like I’d been blindsided by a linebacker, and I fell to the ground\

must have been a 5.7

 

[Win]

I read the article - interesting read. But I don't think it mentioned the caliber.

 

[ivarr]

.45acp for the win

 

[Deleted member 12999]

Yup. I'm actually considering going to G17s for us. SBRs in a thigh holster was in one of my proposals I wrote after some... Well.... A lot of Jack Daniels.

 

[DrNVP]

Shots Fired: Skokie, Illinois 08/25/2008 - Article - POLICE Magazine

 

[Golddiggie]

.45acp for the win

More likely a .38 (.380 or 9mm) due to the description.

 

[Golddiggie]

Thanks for posting. That was the incident I was talking about.

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I think he may have been stating that a 45 would be a man stopper as opposed to a 9mm. But I have been wrong before, just ask my wife.

I've taken [written] things the wrong way before...

I did read a decent amount of the original article (after my earlier posts)... Why am I not surprised it was in the DC area?? "Gun free" areas are only gun free for law abiding citizens. As we all know, criminals don't give a flying fart about the laws.

 

[Wadcutter]

.45acp for the win

Shot placement for the win.

 

[exo]

Did anyone read the actual article? I find more interesting the guy's response to it. He's not changing his behavior, or looking over his shoulder, or arming himself... which, OK, if that's how he wants to roll. But I'd think you might at least want to be more aware and observant of your surroundings in the future.

If I got shot in D.C., you can bet the last place I'd ever go to again would be... D.C.

 

[bill o]

The article doesn't specify caliber, but it sounds to me like a .22 or .25, maybe 9mm ball. Can a weakling hipster get shot in the shoulder with a .45 and not know it?

 

[Lugnut]

I'd prefer a 45ACP in the shoulder vs a 9mm in the head all day long....

 

[exo]

The article doesn't specify caliber, but it sounds to me like a .22 or .25, maybe 9mm ball. Can a weakling hipster get shot in the shoulder with a .45 and not know it?

I'd prefer a 45ACP in the shoulder vs a 9mm in the head all day long....

He got shot in more places than the shoulder. If I know my anatomy right, your spleen is not located near your shoulder

 

[mikeyp]

Wow...

Within minutes of the shooting, we arrived at Washington Hospital Center — a giant, sterile maze on the border of northwest and northeast D.C., where doctors treat so many victims of violent crime that the government seeks them out to train military surgeons before they deploy into battle zones. Or so I was later told.

 

[RobertPaulson]

never underestimate the knock down power of a handgun:

Yes but you want to knock down that assailant, not yourself.

 

[fubar]

Well , how about this :

The gun did what it was supposed to do. It knocked the guy on his ass with 3 shots. The shooter now had time to evaluate the threat and proceed accordingly.

 

[JCV]

never underestimate the knock down power of a handgun:

You're lucky it weighs nearly 4lbs because only having 5 shots, you're gonna need something to beat the guy with after you run out of ammo.

 

[mikeyp]

And then there's this part

. Even in a high crime city like D.C. most people going about their business on any given day or year or decade don’t get shot. Mugged, maybe, not shot.

So it's fine and dandy to be mugged as long as you're not shot?

 

[Deleted member 12999]

Well , how about this :

The gun did what it was supposed to do. It knocked the guy on his ass with 3 shots. The shooter now had time to evaluate the threat and proceed accordingly.

My sarcasm meter has been REALLY off lately... did I miss some thar?

 

[drgrant]

The article doesn't specify caliber, but it sounds to me like a .22 or .25, maybe 9mm ball. Can a weakling hipster get shot in the shoulder with a .45 and not know it?

Maybe. Mas Ayoob had an article years ago where a woman got shot 5 times with a .45 ACP handgun and drove herself to the hospital.

-Mike

 

[jmhorrible]

Maybe. Mas Ayoob had an article years ago where a woman got shot 5 times with a .45 ACP handgun and drove herself to the hospital.

-Mike

According the thefiringline, it was a .25 . I didn't watch the video to confirm though.

 

[fubar]

My sarcasm meter has been REALLY off lately... did I miss some thar?

I know the shooter was the bad guy , and I've read that something like 10% of handgun shootings are fatal.

I meant that if it were civilian self defense , a three shot group , fired fast would have ended the fight.
If I ever need to use a handgun to defend myself my plan is to fire until the threat is stopped. I have no belief at all that a handgun is supposed to end anything in one shot.

 

[taz-2005]

Maybe. Mas Ayoob had an article years ago where a woman got shot 5 times with a .45 ACP handgun and drove herself to the hospital.

-Mike

Or even more recently with the woman in Georgia hiding in the attic or crawlspace with her child who shot an intruder 5 times in the face with a 38 and he was begging her not to shoot him anymore. he survived.

 

[Hoover]

Ask saint trayvon martin about handguns.

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Or even more recently with the woman in Georgia hiding in the attic or crawlspace with her child who shot an intruder 5 times in the face with a 38 and he was begging her not to shoot him anymore. he survived.

They were torso hits, not head and he got out of the house but crashed the car down the street.