In the real world, bullets launched at living creatures are all charged with the same job.  One way or another, a bullet must penetrate the outer layers and get in deep enough to break load bearing bones, disrupt the central nervous system, and/or cut through the heart, lungs, major blood vessels or other organs.  So to that end, no area of the body makes a better target than a four to six-inch strip down the midline of the body between the head and groin.  This is of course, ideal and things change in the real world such that we aren’t necessarily presented this wondrous landing strip for bullets but, take a moment to think about what lies in this strip of real estate.

If we could see through all the layers, at the center of it all is bundle of nerve fibers known as the spinal cord which happens to smell like “hot dogs” to your truly and is responsible for directing all motor control signals between the brain and the body.  The spinal cord is surrounded and in fact armored by bones and other tissues.  These bones and tissues are the vertebrae and discs that make up the spine or spinal column that resembles a stack of “marshmallows” (vertebrae) with “grapes” (discs) squished between them.  Forming the core of the circulatory system and positioned on either side of the spinal column, lie the large blood vessels or “hoses” that lead to/from the heart and lungs, down the spine past the kidney toward the pelvis where they bifurcate or split before continuing on to the legs.  Regardless of caliber, bullets that penetrate deep enough to hit these “hot dogs and hoses, marshmallows and grapes,” present us the highest probability of incapacitating a threat in the shortest period of time with fewer rounds fired.

So the point lurking here is that what you hit is more important than the caliber with which you hit.  All that matters in terms of caliber is that the bullet be capable of penetrating deep enough to reach these areas.  Modern defensive/duty ammunition in service calibers such as 9x19mm, .40 S&W, and .45 ACP are all tested using FBI protocols to be sure their bullets can do just that.  Bonded jacketed hollow point ammunition in .40 S&W dominates in the police market largely because such ammunition does offer advantages in continuing to perform as desired after passing through intermediate barriers like auto-glass, sheet metal, and drywall.  Most of us, if we have to defend our own lives, are not likely to have to shoot through a car or the interior walls of a building to do so.  To that end, for most of us, “nine is just fine.”  Shoot the caliber with which you can deliver fast, accurate, and controlled fire to the areas discussed above.  We recommend starting at 9mm but, few people shot with .380 have ever said, “that bullet isn’t big enough.”  Your mileage may vary.

-Gary

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-urges-tighter-background-checks-gun-buyers-aurora-033815400.html

“And I, like most Americans, believe that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual the right to bear arms.  And we recognize the traditions of gun ownership that passed on from generation to generation -— that hunting and shooting are part of a cherished national heritage…”

Guess I’m just going to have to come out and say this…He’s LYING!!!! Furthermore, he doesn’t get it.  This isn’t about hunting and recreational shooting.  It’s about protecting the people from a government that has run off the rails and exceeded its authority.  From none other than the Associated Press, here’s how Obama has handled gun rights during his notably short political career:

1997-2004: As an Illinois state senator, Obama supports banning all forms of semiautomatic weapons and tighter state restrictions generally on firearms, including a failed effort to limit handgun purchases to one per month.

2005: In the U.S. Senate, Obama votes against protecting firearms makers and dealers from lawsuits over misuse of their products by others. The bill is signed into law by President George W. Bush.

2008: During his first presidential campaign, Obama supports a return to the federal ban on assault weapons, which began during the Clinton administration and expired under Bush. He also endorses requiring background checks for buyers at gun shows. The National Rifle Association attacks him as an anti-gun zealot — a stand the group continues to take today.

2008 was also the year he all but called small town folk a bunch of bitter, knuckle-dragging, Luddites for not getting with his program.  Remember that gem in which he said folks get “bitter” and “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them…”?  Snobbery runs deep in the cesspool known as Chicago.

Here’s my take.  The President has never believed in an individual right to bear arms.  His beliefs didn’t suddenly change with the DC v Heller decision.  He says otherwise now, only because he thinks it is politically prudent given the clear statement from the US Supreme Court that the Second Amendment protects and individual right to keep and bear arms.  If Obama truly believed the Second Amendment applied to individuals, he wouldn’t have appointed, let alone defended, Eric Holder.  Remember that during the D.C. v Heller case, Holder joined a brief submitted to the Court, in which he and others argued that the Second Amendment does not protect an individual right to keep and bear arms.  How can one truly believe the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms if they’ve signed their name onto a legal brief that clearly states otherwise?

Another repost.  But again, one that bears repeating…

Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and force. If you want me to do something for you, you have a choice of either convincing me via argument, or force me to do your bidding under threat of force. Every human interaction falls into one of those two categories, without exception. Reason or force, that’s it.

I’ve been hit with dozens of texts and FB messages asking me if I finally understand the dangers of guns or asking me if more guns is the answer. And predictably, the media has started it’s assault on guns, highlighting how many people have been killed since the 1960s and the fact there are over 300 million, legally owned guns in the US. Well let’s let’s look at that for a second and review recent events to see if guns and CCW license are really the problem.

Out of 300 million guns, four guns and one man were involved in the commission of this crime.  If we assume that only 10 million people own all those guns, that still means that 299,999,996 guns weren’t involved in a crime at all.  Nor were at least 9,999,999 gun owners.  And if we add up all the mass shootings and all the guns used along with all the victims, distracted and drunk drivers use their cars to kill or maim many thousands more people annually and yet, we haven’t re-instituted prohibition, banned personal electronic devices that are usually the sources of distraction, let alone attempted to ban cars. Why, because magically, when the subject isn’t a gun, we’re able to apply logic and reason to realize it makes no sense to criminalize and demonize inanimate objects due to the decisions and actions of so few people.

Last weekend, we were all hailing the actions of Samuel Williams, a 71-year-old, Floridian with a concealed handgun license who was minding his own business in an Internet cafe when two armed thugs burst in. Sam produced his own weapon (a “measly” little .380) and took on the two aggressors without hesitation. The thugs immediately decided they had somewhere else to be and ran over each other trying to extract themselves from their intended victims.  One of the suspects later stated they’d targeted the Internet cafe, in part, because they didn’t expect any of their intended victims to be armed.

And then; yesterday morning, at midnight, James Holmes cached weapons and armor at an emergence exit for a theater that was specifically designated as a “gun free” zone.  He then bought a ticket to enter said theater, sneaked over to that exit to don his gear, and then proceeded to murder a dozen people and injure at least 50 others in a room full of unarmed victims. But, the moment Holmes faced an armed response, he immediately ceased all aggression and was promptly arrested by responding officers.

The consistent theme here is the cessation of aggression when shooters or would be shooters are met, not so much with authority, but someone who is willing and able to take them on.  It’s not as simple as saying more guns, but clearly more people able to respond in kind is a determining factor in whether or not shooters or would be shooters will continue their plans.  It’s a Utopian fallacy to think we can just ban all guns to put the genie back in the bottle.  But statistically speaking, one is far more likely to be injured or killed by a drunk or distracted driver than they are to be shot by a mass shooter or even an armed robber and there’s little real evidence that banning guns will change that.

Opinions will vary but, mine is that I’d much rather be able to defend myself against a mass shooter than be relegated to calling 911 and waiting to die until “help” arrives. While the Aurora PD deserves huge praise for what has to be a world record response time (under 90 seconds), the fact is, all the killing and shooting was done BEFORE they arrived.  And in this age of cell phones versus hard lines, you should experience calling 911 from your cell phone sometime.  Doing so can be an eye-opening experience with respect to how long it really takes to summon help.

-Gary