What Goes Up....
This news item tells of how a famous chef, Paul Prudhomme, was accidentally hit by a bullet that someone fired into the air somewhere within a one and a half mile radius of where he was. It punched a hole in his chef's jacket and broke the skin on one of his arms but otherwise did no damage, and after shaking the .22 bullet out of his clothes, he blithely went on with setting up a cooking situation on a golf course, as befits a New Orleans cooking whiz.
This interested me greatly, because I have always wondered how dangerous bullets were in falling back to the ground after being fired in the air. I had wondered if it was possible to be killed that way. I had heard that shooting upward is not a good thing to do, and so, though I have a .22 rifle and a .16 gauge shotgun, I never fire either in the air, though this place is so devoid of people that the chances of anything falling back down on me or anyone else must be close to zero. Still the bullet doesn't just dissolve up there, and you never know.
Death by a falling bullet must be very unlikely, because I frequently see TV shots of men in the Middle East especially, celebrating every occasion that offers itself, by firing into the air with a variety of firearms. They do it so profusely that you would think wagonloads of people standing in the area would quickly have to be carted off to the hospital with bullet wounds to the head or shoulders. But apparently not.
A .22 bullet is a small caliber and supposedly not particular lethal even if fired directly at one, unless it hits a vital spot and is not a hollowpoint. So, taking into account that the bullet also has to lose some of its velocity on its way up and even on the way back down, Prudhomme was probably never in any danger of death or serious injury, even if it had hit directly on his big chef's hat, provided he was wearing one.
I wonder if the police scouted the area, while trying to look casual. Provided that the word got out, if I had been them I would have looked for someone whistling.
People also shoot much larger caliber pistols, revolvers, and rifles into the air. Presumably the bullets fired from those go much higher up and so, in falling the long way back to the ground, they probably gain some velocity and could be a very different cup of tea.
I hope there's not another news report any time soon, on someone napping on his or her belly on the grass at the Washington Mall and getting hit in the derriere by a 30-30 bullet accidentally discharged through a pigeon loft roof in nearby Arlington, Va. I don't really need to know how that will work out. My conjectures and my unshakeable faith in probabilities will do.
This interested me greatly, because I have always wondered how dangerous bullets were in falling back to the ground after being fired in the air. I had wondered if it was possible to be killed that way. I had heard that shooting upward is not a good thing to do, and so, though I have a .22 rifle and a .16 gauge shotgun, I never fire either in the air, though this place is so devoid of people that the chances of anything falling back down on me or anyone else must be close to zero. Still the bullet doesn't just dissolve up there, and you never know.
Death by a falling bullet must be very unlikely, because I frequently see TV shots of men in the Middle East especially, celebrating every occasion that offers itself, by firing into the air with a variety of firearms. They do it so profusely that you would think wagonloads of people standing in the area would quickly have to be carted off to the hospital with bullet wounds to the head or shoulders. But apparently not.
A .22 bullet is a small caliber and supposedly not particular lethal even if fired directly at one, unless it hits a vital spot and is not a hollowpoint. So, taking into account that the bullet also has to lose some of its velocity on its way up and even on the way back down, Prudhomme was probably never in any danger of death or serious injury, even if it had hit directly on his big chef's hat, provided he was wearing one.
I wonder if the police scouted the area, while trying to look casual. Provided that the word got out, if I had been them I would have looked for someone whistling.
People also shoot much larger caliber pistols, revolvers, and rifles into the air. Presumably the bullets fired from those go much higher up and so, in falling the long way back to the ground, they probably gain some velocity and could be a very different cup of tea.
I hope there's not another news report any time soon, on someone napping on his or her belly on the grass at the Washington Mall and getting hit in the derriere by a 30-30 bullet accidentally discharged through a pigeon loft roof in nearby Arlington, Va. I don't really need to know how that will work out. My conjectures and my unshakeable faith in probabilities will do.
posted by Carl (aka Sofarsogoo) | 7:39 PM
4 Comments:
My upstairs neighbor in my childhood was nearly hit by a bullet through his bedroom window, a bullet fired by a woman shooting squirrels two blocks away. My neighbor fell into his W.W. II mode, rolled off the bed onto the floor and exited the room, crouching, moving at a fast pace.
How do I know who fired the bullet? Because there was a witness, a small and very nosy girl who hung out around the neighborhood.
When the police arrived, they went to the woman and told her (falsely) that someone had been hit by her bullet. I wasn't present for the resolution, but I was told that she never fired her gun in the air again, squirrels or no squirrels.
"Mythbusters" did this one, but I don't remember the resolution. I am sure it will be re-run.
Steve, bullets fired more horizontally than the one was in the Prudhomme story are definitely another cup of tea. Just yesterday I read about a guy, I think in Michigan, who was having trouble punching a hole through his wall so he could string a cable through it for his satellite dish. So he tried firing his .22 pistol through the wall -- and ended up killing his wife outside.
However, something about that sounds fishy to me.
Lady, you mean that Discovery Channel show that has the bald guy in the beret? They dealt with what happens when bullets fired upward fall back to the ground? Do you remember what the myth was, if not the resolution? I can't get "Mythbusters" on my dish. At least not in English. They couldn't have been referring to this Prudhomme story. That just happened, at a golf tournament that is still going on.
You are right, it wasn't this particular story, but a conglomeration of several. I know there was one about Mardi Gras in New Orleans several years ago and I think that one was mentioned.
Actually you can find the results
http://mythbustersresults.com/episode50
Who needs to watch the show when you can just find the results on the 'net?
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