Althouse: "Like a marble through a small tube, the defect channels the bullet from Petra’s nose through her brain."

July 24, 2012

"Like a marble through a small tube, the defect channels the bullet from Petra’s nose through her brain."

"It turns slightly several times, and comes to rest at the rear of her brain. And in the process, the bullet misses all the vital areas of the brain."

19 comments:

MadisonMan said...: This reminds me of a story I read last month (?) about a woman who was shot between the eyes and lived. The bullet ricocheted off a bone just right and exited her head above her ear, never actually penetrating the skull. If I'm remembering things correctly :); 7/24/12, 8:38 AM
FleetUSA said...: Miracles happen. Thank God; 7/24/12, 9:08 AM
ndspinelli said...: There are some folks here who would have also been spared..brain atrophy.; 7/24/12, 9:20 AM
MadisonMan said...: I disagree that this is a miracle. I think if you selected 10000 or so people, and shot them all in the head, some would survive because of strange ricochets and mutations and whatnot.

I will agree that random chance can look very miraculous to the person to whom it happens.

A miracle would have been a lightning bolt coming out of the clear blue sky, hitting Holmes' car as he was driving and causing it to explode.; 7/24/12, 9:23 AM
edutcher said...: No, Mad, it's still a miracle, because, in that confined space, the round can always find another way to go.

And I hope she gets the chance to walk up to him (batbrain) and spit in his eye and let him know she's the one that got away.; 7/24/12, 9:38 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: That story is completely confusing. Was she shot with a bullet or did a stray shotgun pellet go through her brain. Those are two completely different things.

If she was shot 4 times including a shot gun hit to the head.....no amount of brain "defect" would protect you from THAT shot. She wouldn't have a head.

Stupid story written by people who have no experience with firearms.

Nevertheless.....lucky lucky girl.; 7/24/12, 9:40 AM
DADvocate said...: maybe even the size used for deer hunting,

The dear Pastor Strait knows little or nothing about shotguns and deer hunting. For deer, you would use a single slug, which for a 12 gauge, like the one used in the Batman shootings, would be approx 3/4 of an inch in diameter. Her head would have exploded. This was a pellet about the size of a BB.; 7/24/12, 9:56 AM
R.L. Hunter said...: DADvocate,

It sounds like you don't know much about guns and deer hunting.

The standard 00 Buckshot load is nine .36 caliber balls.; 7/24/12, 11:14 AM
AndyN said...: That story is completely confusing. Was she shot with a bullet or did a stray shotgun pellet go through her brain. Those are two completely different things.

If she was shot 4 times including a shot gun hit to the head.....no amount of brain "defect" would protect you from THAT shot. She wouldn't have a head.

He conflates the words bullet and shot, which if read in context isn't really all the confusing although obviously not technically correct. What's really confusing is why you'd find it more plausible that this woman would survive being hit in the face with a 5.56 mm round but not with a single piece of buckshot.

For deer, you would use a single slug, which for a 12 gauge, like the one used in the Batman shootings, would be approx 3/4 of an inch in diameter. Her head would have exploded. This was a pellet about the size of a BB.

People do use buckshot to hunt deer. Perhaps that's why it's called BUCKshot. Furthermore, 00 buckshot is about .33" in diameter, #1 buckshot is about .30". I haven't seen specifics about what ammunition he was using, but it's pretty unlikely that it was anything smaller than #1 buckshot for his intended purpose. Whatever it was, it didn't involve "a pellet about the size of a BB."

tldr: lol at the people displaying their ignorance of ammunition while mocking others for their ignorance of ammunition; 7/24/12, 11:31 AM
DADvocate said...: RL - In Ohio, Ky and TN, states I'm familiar with, you can only use a single slug, not 00 buckshot. I checked and that is also the case in Colorado. Maybe you live in Alabama were 00 seem to be legal for deer.

Thanks for showing yourself to be one other person not quite as smart as they think they are.; 7/24/12, 11:48 AM
DADvocate said...: Whatever it was, it didn't involve "a pellet about the size of a BB."

A typical shotgun load for small game is pellets about the size of a BB. That's what I was referring to.; 7/24/12, 11:51 AM
AndyN said...: A typical shotgun load for small game is pellets about the size of a BB. That's what I was referring to.

No, what you were referring to was the buckshot that hit Petra Anderson in the face. Unless you want to pretend that the "this" in "this was a pellet about the size of a BB" had an antecedent that didn't appear anywhere in your comment. If that's the case, I see a bright future for you as a presidential speechwriter.; 7/24/12, 12:02 PM
DADvocate said...: No, what you were referring to was the buckshot that hit Petra Anderson in the face.

Look, dumb ass, don't pretend to be able to read my mind. It may not be clear to you, but I was trying to say that the girl was probably not hit by a deer slug, but by a typical small game load, perhaps size 6 or 7 shot.

I don't pretend to be an expert or a mind reader, but I seriously doubt even 00 buckshot would have passed through that girl's brain with such little damage.; 7/24/12, 12:16 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: He conflates the words bullet and shot, which if read in context isn't really all the confusing although obviously not technically correct. What's really confusing is why you'd find it more plausible that this woman would survive being hit in the face with a 5.56 mm round but not with a single piece of buckshot.

They never said she was shot "in the head" with a 5.56 mm round, so there is no supposition on my part that she would survive something like that. So I have no idea how you suppose that you know what I am thinking or what I find plausable.

The only mention of the "head" was a pellet from a shotgun and then he called it a bullet.

While you CAN use a shotgun for deer hunting in California, you would be damned lucky to get anywhere close enough to do more than wound the deer and then have to chase it for mile and miles over lava rocks and through scrub. Maybe that [shotgun]works in the East or Midwest or some coastal areas of Ca. But not where I've ever been hunting, generally the X or C zones.

Legal weapons for hunting deer include rifles and pistols with centerfire cartridges, black-powder muzzle-loading rifles firing .40 caliber shot or larger, bows and crossbows with arrowheads measuring 7/8 inch or larger or shotguns that can hold three or more shells simultaneously. Ammunition should be limited to softnose or expanding cartridges for pistols and rifles and 0 or 00 buckshot for shotguns.

We use a 30.06 with scope or a 22-250 with scope for the distance; 7/24/12, 12:35 PM
AndyN said...: Look, dumb ass, don't pretend to be able to read my mind.

I wasn't pretending to read your mind. I was literally reading what you wrote. Don't blame me if you fail at grammar.

It may not be clear to you, but I was trying to say that the girl was probably not hit by a deer slug, but by a typical small game load, perhaps size 6 or 7 shot.

So you believe it's conceivable that a man bent on committing mass murder in a confined space would arm himself with a 5.56 mm semi-automatic rifle, 2 .40 caliber handguns, and a shotgun loaded for small game? And then initiate the attack with the shotgun? And I'm the dumb ass?; 7/24/12, 12:45 PM
AndyN said...: They never said she was shot "in the head" with a 5.56 mm round, so there is no supposition on my part that she would survive something like that. So I have no idea how you suppose that you know what I am thinking or what I find plausable.

The only mention of the "head" was a pellet from a shotgun and then he called it a bullet.

Here's what you said:
If she was shot 4 times including a shot gun hit to the head.....no amount of brain "defect" would protect you from THAT shot. She wouldn't have a head.

Now, I'm assuming here that you accept that a projectile of some sort did hit her in the face and penetrate through to the back of her skull. If that's an invalid assumption, I'm sorry for putting words in your mouth. If you do accept that a projectile fired by James Holmes hit her in the face, then the available options are whatever he was firing from his shotgun, 5.56mm or .40 caliber. You've said that you don't believe she would have survived a shotgun hit to the face, so by process of elimination the only remaining options are 5.56mm or a .40 caliber.

Again, it was sloppy and inaccurate for them to conflate the words pellet and bullet, but hardly confusing.; 7/24/12, 12:57 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: Now, I'm assuming here that you accept that a projectile of some sort did hit her in the face and penetrate through to the back of her skull. If that's an invalid assumption, I'm sorry for putting words in your mouth.

That is a somewhat invalid assumption. I assumed she was shot several times because they plainly said so. Probably 3 hits since they want to include a stray BB as being a shot to the head and want to call it a bullet. I assume her other wounds were to other parts of her body.

The reason I assume the shot to the head was from a stray BB and not an actual shot to the head by a shotgun loaded with a slug is because the said BB. As pointed out if she were shot with a slug from a shotgun....she would have no head. If she were shot full on in the face by even a 12 gauge shell much less a heavier grade of shot, she would also have no face or head. They don't discuss facial reconstructive surgery or other facial damage. So I assume that the full force of the shotgun went elsewhere and the spray pattern included her and her lucky defective brain on the edges of the spray pattern.

So....my assumptions are.
1. The author of the piece is clueless about guns and ammo
2. She was shot several times, but only one wound to the head caused by a stray or single buckshot/BB.
3. Unless you are ex military, I've shot more weapons am more familiar with ammo and the results of getting shot than you.; 7/24/12, 1:19 PM
DADvocate said...: Well, dumb ass, I wasn't writing a scientific treatise or a legal brief, so I didn't go into detail. My only point, initially was that I thought the pastor was wrong about the projectile being the size used for deer hunting. And, I used the reference I know from living in TN, OH and KY.

00 buckshot seem is would be a poor choice for deer hunting because of the lack of accuracy over any distance. I know people who put a variety of loads in a shotgun at the same time for self defense purposes. And, I was thinking only of what could have passed through the brain with little/no damage. There's been plenty of cases where this occurred with .22s.

Who knows what a madman thinks of? You make the error of believing a madman thinks rationally. A rational person never would have committed the act. The spray from smaller shot would hit more people. Now you're reading that guy's mind.

But, you, yourself, go beyond the rational, insisting on being "right" and making spurious accusations based on some stupid blog comment. Not only are you pretending to be expert in guns, ammo and hunting, but grammar and logical argument.

Some evidence the killer may be a dumb ass to: Children's Hospital Colorado emergency room physician Dr. Guy Upshaw says he thinks the buckshot likely came from a shotgun, but the small, metal pellets can also come from explosive devices. Source

It must be nice to believe you have a monopoly on the truth, no matter how wrong you are. I bet you're real fun at parties.; 7/24/12, 1:34 PM
Unknown said...: DADvocate

Buck shot is called that because it was used to hunt deer. It makes sense when hunting in dense brush and forest where deer are encountered at pretty close range and a hunter needs to make a snap shot. Long range accuracy is sacrificed for increased chance of hitting game with at least one pellet and with large pellets, one is likely to be enough.

When somebody went loaded for bear, they loaded one large ball into their smooth bore gun since bear are harder to kill than deer and they can make an embarrassing hole in your social calendar if they get hold of you before you kill them.; 7/24/12, 10:17 PM