Stopping and knockdown power

 In the gun community, there is an idea that stopping power and knockdown power are a myth.

SCIENCE!, yanno, the stuff that actually involves real research, study, lots of maths, empirical evidence and so forth disagrees.

SCIENCE!

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/stopping-power

Just scale it up.

http://karllippard.com/military/docs/Calculations-of-Bullet-Stopping-Power.pdf

https://www.nrafamily.org/content/terminal-ballistics-stopping-power/

https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA078233.pdf

These links will not convince any of the gun nerds (Hi fam!) otherwise. Cool. And in other news some people refuse to accept, the earth is a sphere, not flat.

EDIT: Me bud Mike Moore passes along this article by a real expert who did real research. 

https://www.activeresponsetraining.net/an-alternate-look-at-handgun-stopping-power

But lets take a look at the two ideas in a way some people will understand.

STOPPING POWER

What is stopping power? This is the problem. Ask 10 gun nerds and you can get anywhere from 2 to several dozen opinions.

To me, stopping power is the ability of a projectile to interrupt how fast a bullet stops what I shoot. Period.

Just for the record, two elephants were killed with a 22 Long Rifle, considered one of the weakest cartridges you can get. A very few are even weaker. These pachyderms were shot behind the front leg and the bullet nicked an artery. The critters bled to death.

That is pretty weak stopping power. In this case, Dumbo and Jumbo had plenty of time to turn around and stomp the shooter into a bloody hole.

Dangerous game guns are capable of dropping an elephant, rhino or Cape buffalo in its tracks. That is stopping power. These bullets penetrate very tough hide, thick and very dense bone and still manage to deliver enough wallop to disable the shot critter. Lulu and Ellie collapse without taking another step.

Stopping power.

Bah. If you still think stopping power is a myth, here is another example.

If you shoot an A-10 Thunderbolt with a 22 LR, the pilot will likely never notice. Shoot a Warthog with a Sidewinder missile and the pilot will certainly know, if he survives. The Sidewinder stops the plane.

KNOCKDOWN POWER

Is knockdown power real? Absolutely. 

Knockdown power, to me, is the ability of a projectile (bullet) to knock down, flip, etc. the target. In other words, will it make a target move, as in fall down move? Will the bullet knock a target backward? It is almost the same thing as stopping power. You need a fine measuring device to see the difference.

This does has something to do with how sturdy the target is. Shoot a piece of paper not attached to anything and it will move. Shoot it with a BB gun and the paper will move. Shoot the same paper mounted to a frame and it does not move.

Go back to the two elephants above. A 22 LR has almost no stopping power where they are concerned.

Don't take my word for it. Shoot some ballistic gel and find out. Again, take that 22 LR and shoot a block of gelatin and it barely moves.

My friend Scott at Kentucky Ballistics should put the idea that knockdown power does not exist to rest. He proves it pretty thoroughly by shooting a 4 Bore rifle into gel blocks.

If knockdown power is a myth, then why do gel blocks react like that?

BULLET DESIGN

At some point, a gun nerd is going to bring up bullet design. Good. Bullet design does affect stopping power and knockdown power. Scott's 4 Bore video demonstrates that pretty well. Witness the flat point v. the round nose. MAJOR difference.

Bullet design is intrinsic to knockdown and stopping power. Anyone who shoots enough to know the difference between hardball and JHP should be able to see that.

SEMANTICS

The real issue here is a matter of semantics, language. Some in the gun community are hidebound to hard and fast and never-changing definitions of certain words. Language does not work that way.

The myth folks are stuck to their definitions like stink on a roadkill skunk. Other folks are willing to adapt to the changes.

A great example of this in the gun community is the difference between clip and magazine. The general public does not see or care about any difference. Gun nerds do. 

An even more esoteric gun nerd difference is handgun v. pistol. A pistol is a handgun, always, but a handgun is not always a pistol. Really.

Wanna spin your head a little more? In the US under ATF regulations, we have pistols, revolvers. Under actual US law, we have handguns. That last link may or may not work. For some reason, it has "terrorism" as a key term and I did not use terrorism to find 18 USC 921: Definitions.

WHEE!

Surviving the alien invasion

Good news for the folks in the Peach State! According to a study done by a bunch of casinos - I am not kidding - Georgia ranks No. 2 in the nation in our ability to survive an alien invasion.

Nevada, home to Area 51, a variety of aliens from many places, crashed spacecraft, nuclear testing grounds, strips shows on every corner, legal houses of ill repute and casino conglomerates that did not pay for this study, comes in dead last. Well now. Guess that whole "secret military base in the desert" thing didn't work out so well after all.

For your further edification, here is the report:

Amid reports that the Pentagon is investigating more than 650 potential UFO sightings — and following NASA’s first-ever public meeting on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena — renewed interest in alien activity has risen sharply with search volume for “UFOs” in America soaring by 85.7%.

And with almost 3 in 10 (29%) believing that there will be an apocalyptic disaster in their lifetime — and two-thirds (65%) believing in aliens — it has never been more important to consider. Intrigued by this, (a casino conglomerate) were keen to discover the US states most likely to survive an alien invasion.

The experts created a points-based index system that assesses a variety of factors that are considered to have an impact on survivability in an alien invasion. The metrics included population density, UFO sightings, landscape (caves, forest, bodies of water), defense (military and law enforcement), science (scientists and engineers), medical (healthcare professionals), and food manufacturing data — to reveal the US states best equipped for an alien invasion.  

The full dataset used throughout this study — with all metrics included — is https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vlpeuqnAd6UFw35qNy7lP2onALm88o1f/edit#gid=882094557

Look up your state and see how you will come out if/when the aliens decide to reveal themselves and officially take over. I for one am ready for the Reptiloids to shuck their masks and show us Star Trek was telling the truth when Capt. Kirk fought that Gorn.

 (a casino conglomerate) can reveal that Georgia is in second place with an overall alien survival score of 7.95/10. Georgia has the second-lowest reported UFO sightings in the top ten, with just 2.35 sightings per 100,000 people. This is 48% more than in the bordering state of Florida where there have been 3.50 UFO sightings per capita. The state also benefits from a high number of food and beverage manufacturing companies (849), 46% higher than in Tennessee (581), which would play a crucial role in an alien invasion scenario. Not only this, but Georgia has a high volume of caves (12) in comparison to its neighbors, such as in South Carolina where there are zero.

A spokesperson from (a casino conglomerate) comments on why these metrics are important in an alien invasion scenario:

“In the event of an alien invasion, disruptions to transportation and logistics networks could make it challenging to import food from other regions or countries. States with a higher number of food and beverage companies would have a greater capacity to produce and distribute food locally, ensuring a more reliable food supply for their population.” 

Virginia is the US state best equipped for an alien invasion

Virginia is the US state best equipped for an alien invasion, with an overall alien survival score of 8.04/10. Just 2.91 UFOs per 100,000 people have been spotted in Virginia, which is almost three times fewer alien sightings than in Washington, where there have been as many as 8.61 per capita. Not only this, but Virginia has the largest military force per capita in the top ten, with 17.97 army personnel per 100,000 people — as well as a high volume of law enforcement officials per capita (600.49), which is almost double that of Kentucky (392.12). The state also benefits from a high number of caves (29), the second-highest in the top ten, which can be beneficial for concealment and camouflage as well as providing protection from aerial attacks.

“The presence of a larger military force per capita means that Virginia is well-equipped to defend and protect its territory against extraterrestrial threats and enables a faster response time to an alien invasion, meaning the state can mobilize and deploy troops more quickly. 

Not only this, but a greater number of military personnel ensures a larger pool of trained individuals with combat skills and experience who can handle critical support functions such as intelligence gathering, communication networks, medical support, supply chains, and transportation.”

In third place is Massachusetts, scoring 7.85/10 for alien invasion survivability. Massachusetts has 35.07 healthcare professionals per capita, which is the highest in the top ten and would assist where there may be an increased need for medical response and emergency care. The state has had just 3.57 UFO sightings per 100,000 people, 60% fewer than in the bordering state Vermont, where there have been 9.01 per capita. Not only this, but Massachusetts has the highest percentage of land covered by water (0.26%) in the top 10, which would facilitate access to fresh water for drinking, agriculture, and industrial needs.

 (a casino conglomerate) can reveal that Nevada is the US state least equipped for an alien invasion, with an overall alien survival score of 4.53/10. Unfortunately, the state lacks in areas that would protect it in an invasion scenario such as its high volume of UFO sightings per 100,000 people (5.03), lack of caves (0), and low forest cover (0.16%), as well as a low number of food and beverage manufacturing companies (280). 

Amid the recent spike in UFO sightings across the USA, former Ministry of Defence UFO investigator, Nick Pope, has commented: You can tell Mr. Pope is from Great Britain because he cannot spell defense. Also, being from Great Britain he has no obligation to tell us ungrateful colonials anything that could remotely be true. Or not. The Brits are good at mind games. Their national currency is the Pound, but they refuse to say a pound of what. They also have king and a prime minister instead of a dictator president like normal countries.

“Gone are the days when it was regarded as part fringe, part-science fiction, and part conspiracy theory. UFOs are now being treated as a defense and national security issue, discussed in the United States Congress, and attracting attention from the Head of NASA.

"It's difficult to tell whether we're seeing a genuine spike in UFO sightings - and if so, what this means - or whether what's happening is that a higher proportion of sightings is being reported, as a result of the current mainstream media coverage of this subject.

The subject has come out of the fringe and into the mainstream, which has led to lots more people speaking out about their own sightings and encounters. Regardless of the truth about these various incidents, it focuses on the fact that UFO sightings - whatever their cause - have serious and profound defense, national security, and air safety issues.”

Here is a numbered list from the press release. In the interest of full disclosure misinformation bowing to the corporate overlords sharing the entire press release, I am passing it along.

1.  (a casino conglomerate) were keen to discover which US states are most likely to survive an alien invasion.

2.  To do so, the number of UFO sightings and the average duration of ‘UFO visits’ was scraped from NUOFC (the National UFO Reporting Centre Database) and was aggregated per state in the US. As the number of sightings could suggest that aliens have been circling and planning the invasion, the higher number of sightings = a higher chance of the invasion starting there.

3. To aid survival, one of the first strategies is to hide. States with lower population density may have an advantage during an invasion, as it can provide more space for individuals to hide, evacuate, or organize resistance movements. Rural areas or states with large uninhabited regions might have an edge over densely populated urban centers. The population density for all states was sourced from WorldPopulationReview.com.

4. The number of caves was scraped from sop-inia.fr and forests (% of area covered) per state were sourced from WorldPopulationReview.com as a measure of potential hiding spots, with a larger number improving the survivability score.

5. As access to water and food sources is important for long-term survival, the % of area covered with bodies of water per state was obtained and ranked from usgs.gov data. To estimate accessibility to food sources the number of food and beverage manufacturing establishments in each state was sourced from the US Department of Agriculture data. 

6. States with a strong military presence and robust defense capabilities may be better equipped to respond to an alien invasion. Hence, the total military force (active and reserve) per state in addition to law enforcement employees per capita was included.

7. Medical and healthcare professionals will be key for treating the wounded and the sick and maintaining long-term survival. Additionally, scientific and technical expertise will be crucial for maintaining a defense against an invasion and survival. The number of employees across Life Science and Physical Sciences, Engineers, and Medical and Healthcare practitioners per capita for each state was sourced from the US Bureau of Labour Statistics.

8. A percentrank across all factors was calculated to score and then rank which US state has the hig chance of surviving an alien invasion.

9. All data was collected in May 2023 and is correct as of then.

If you are like me (gads we hope not) you are wondering why a bunch of casinos would fund such a study. The first reason is to generate publicity for the casinos. They are hoping people will click the link to learn more about said casinos.

I killed the links and identifying info. They want links, I want money.

The second reason, which is far more disturbing to me just as likely as trying to get free publicity, the casinos are taking odds on who will make it and who will not make it.

May be a third reason. Possibly many more reasons. I don't care any more.

Note to editors:

[1] edition.cnn.com/2023/04/19/politics/us-government-ufo-reports/index.html

[2] Google Trends shows that search volume for “UFOs” in the United States has risen by 85.7% between the 5th and 12th of February 2023.

[3]today.yougov.com/topics/society/articles-reports/2020/03/18/apocalypse-climate-change-pandemic-coronavirus

[4]pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/06/30/most-americans-believe-in-intelligent-life-beyond-earth-few-see-ufos-as-a-major-national-security-threat/

Rocking that White Privilege

 A friend and brother-in-ink recently posted a list of schools where "mass shootings" have taken place. He also points out gun deaths are the leading cause of child fatalities in the US and uses this to call for an "assault weapon" ban. Seriously rocking that White Privilege.

He got the list from somewhere else. He's also on the left, but a person's politics has never bothered me much when it comes to people I consider friends.

What is torquing my spark plug enough to strip it, is the sheer amount of stunning White Privilege he's slamming on the table hard enough to crack the foundation.

You read that right - White Privilege. Me writing bud in this case is of recent European descent. He's rocking that White Privilege harder than Motley Crue in 1984.

So, do I have your attention yet? Ready to rip my head off yet? Ready to whine yet?

Keep reading.

JUST THE FACTS, MAN

Why am I so certain of my statement? Because there is so much left out of what he posted that it's just... gaaaah, I have no words. So here are just the facts, man, facts which my friend did not bother to post.

1) School shootings account for a tiny fraction of child deaths by gunfire. "The vast majority of child and teen gun homicide deaths and unintentional shooting deaths and injuries occur in the home."
https://everytownresearch.org/issue/child-teen-safety/
https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/Photocopy/152551NCJRS.pdf

2) Suicide is a sizeable percentage of these deaths by firearm. "In the U.S., in 2020, 30% of child and teen deaths by firearm were ruled suicides, and 5% were unintentional or undetermined accidents. However, the most common type of child and teen firearm death is due to violent assault (65% of all child and teen firearm deaths are assault)." 
https://www.kff.org/global-health-policy/issue-brief/child-and-teen-firearm-mortality-in-the-u-s-and-peer-countries/
https://www.cwla.org/increased-suicide-rates-among-children-aged-5-to-11-years-in-the-u-s/

3) Most of the kids being killed by getting shot are in "urban areas" and are shot by other kids. See links above. These studies do not define "urban area," at least not that I saw.

4) Handguns, which the US Supreme Court has already twice ruled are legal to own, account for most of shooting-related murders. Unknown gun types are No. 2 and rifles, which is what people like my bud call "assault rifles" are a very small fraction.
https://www.criminalattorneycolumbus.com/which-weapons-are-most-commonly-used-for-homicides/

5) And here is the really telling information that proves white privilege is running wide-ass open and not just by my friend but by anyone who screams about school shootings and is silent about the other shooting deaths. A disproportionate amount of shooting deaths, including those of children, are committed by one ethnic demographic against that same demographic.
https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2016/crime-in-the-u.s.-2016/tables/expanded-homicide-data-table-2.xls

6) While I have not run a demographic report on the kids killed in schools, I am willing to give you great odds that most of those kids are of a different demographic than I reference in Point 5. You are smart enough to figure this one out; if nothing else, look at the title of this blog.

WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE?

So where is the outrage over these children dying at the hands of each other in our nation's homes and streets? <even the crickets are quiet> People can fill the streets over children dying in a school, but when they die in the street or at home, these same protestors have something more important to do. 

It's not even national news anymore and fell off that radar a long time ago.

Must be nice to be able to pick and choose like that. Me? I've been howling about kids killing kids in the streets for decades.

As much as I dislike the Rev. Jesse Jackson, I do admire him for railing against the kind of violence that sees so many young people of that certain demographic dead, wounded and imprisoned. Of course, Jesse can't use White Privilege.

RICOCHETS

So while I'm here, lemme chase a few ricochets.

1) Most of these people enraged over school shootings in the US are totally silent about the use of true assault weapons used to kill kids and so many other people.

Before going further, I 100% support our troops and our veterans. We do not do enough to support our vets when they get home. I just cannot support an administration that sends our troops into harm's way needlessly.

Afghanistan Fatalities Total: 3590
http://icasualties.org/App/AfghanFatalities

Iraq Fatalities Total: 4902
http://icasualties.org/App/Fatalities

The low estimate of death is "between 280,771-315,190 ... Many civilians have also been injured."
https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/costs/human/civilians/iraqi

The real killer here is the US government. Don't hear a lot of people screaming about this. More White Privilege. 

WHAT? you scream.

You read it right. Foreigners dying at the hands of US troops are not our kids. 

The US government is a leading murderer, going back to the Revolution and the founding of the country. Ask some Native Americans about their history. Ask people whose ancestors came here as slaves.

Gotta say a BIG THANK YOU to Stumblin' Joe Biden for getting our troops OUT of Afghanistan in a hurry. Previous ReDamnobooicratican presidents refused to do so. You may be one who whines about the rapid departure and how much equipment was left behind. I may make an exception to my policy about blocking people over political differences for you. Fact is, Biden got our troops out. Period. End of discussion.

2) The Second Amendment is clear. We have a right to own guns. I've written extensively about this and even wrote a book on it. https://www.amazon.com/truth-behind-gun-control-rational/dp/1717220118 Nuf said for the time being.

3) SCOTUS said owning guns is legal. This is the law of the land and SCOTUS decision are something I've written a lot about. As another bud is fond of telling me when we disagree, "This is our social contract." The people who whine, yes whine, that SCOTUS is wrong and it needs to change that decision, cool. Just do not whine when SCOTUS changes direction in ways you do not like on other issues. (Gonna get yelled at about that one. Hey. If the truth hurts, yer living wrong.)

YOUR THOUGHTS

To pull a phrase from another guy who headbutts controversy, if I am wrong, "Change my mind." Just stick to the narrative and leave personal attacks in your head. If you come after anyone personally, me or someone else who comments, it'll be Bye Felicia!

Rights to the matter

If animals have rights, this means they must be held accountable for their actions. Rights = accountability. Rights are NOT the same as reasonable welfare, which is a different post for another day.

www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/pets/leopard-steals-lion-cub/ar-AA15XRIP

This leopard killed a lion cub. Jumped into the bushes and came out with a cub. Hauled it up into a tree and ate it.

Under the idea that those with rights must bear the consequences of their actions, I ask what should be the consequences.

Let's get into some of the Devilish matters;

Cats are obligate carnivores.

They HAVE to eat meat to survive. https://rawznaturalpetfood.com/obligate-carnivore-cats/ That means something has to die. Leopards do not normally prey on lion cubs.

Walking down this road a step further, male lions take over a pride and kill cubs, making the lionesses come into heat so they breed.

If we are sticking to this whole obligate carnivore thing, wellllll, cats could be like buzzards. Wait for something to die naturally and eat the carcass. Carrion eaters do this.

It is natural.

Ma Nature is not harsh. Ma Nature does not care. Big difference. Kinda like the Cthulhu from HG Wells. The Old One is not evil, it is just that humanity is so far below its notice it treats people like we treat microbes. Cats kill and eat because it is natural.

Yanno what else is natural? People killing animals to eat them. Argue the point all you want, but people eating meat is natural. Once the ability to kill and eat animals is achieved that too becomes natural. The aforementioned buzzards will kills and eat critters. Killing something to eat it is faster and more efficient than waiting for something to die and then trying to find the carcass while it is still safe to eat.

It is natural.

Defense

Defending one's territory is also natural. I am not aware of any animal that willingly cedes territory to another of the same species. Sometimes, that defense requires a lethal interaction. If so, hey, there's a pile of meat.

Limited intellect

At some point, someone is going to say animals lack the ability to reason like humans. Never mind the growing mountains of scientific evidence that say otherwise. Let's take that statement as it stands.

What do humans do with another human that kills people but lacks the capacity to understand the gravity of their actions? We remove that person from society so they can no longer harm anyone else. These people are kept in mental institutions.

Yanno what is the animal world equivalent of a mental institution? A zoo. In case you don't wonder, I abhor zoos. Let the animals live in their natural habitat and go there to see 'em. I understand zoos and captive breeding programs are necessary to save some species because humans are stupid, but that's another post.

Baby got rights

So if we are to believe that animals have rights, then that baby lion had rights. It had the right to live, which was abruptly ended by a leopard. If the leopard lacks the ability to understand the gravity of its actions, then it has to be removed from its version of society to prevent it from doing the same thing again.

Lock that leopard up.

Blue whales, congress and celery

Realizing logic and reason and animal rights activists have as much in common as a stalk of celery and a member of congress - hang on, bad analogy. Ummm, as much in common as a stalk of celery and a blue whale, then what are we left with?

Nothing useful.

Dot to dot

The problem is people are not willing to connect dots in the proper order. That results in a very different picture. If we all connect the dots in whatever order we like best, then everyone has a different picture. Everyone has a different view and in today's world, each view must be equal to all the others. More nonsense, but things do appear to be swinging back to reality.

Take a page from the animal rights playbook and head coach Ingrid Newkirk who said, "A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy." In other words. Ms. Newkirk believes that a rat should have the same set of rights as a human child. Talk about making your own picture from dots.

Gettin' equal

Equal rights does not mean equal treatment of unequal individuals. We ain't all created equal, albeit Samuel Colt did flatten that curve a lot. We do not hold a child to the same standards as we do an adult. 

We can be fair. So if someone intends to call me a murderer (and they have) because I shoot animals, then what shall we do about animals that kill other animals and eat them? Better yet, what shall we do with animals that kill other animals just for fun, looking at otters in particular here.

Going back to our spotted cat in Africa, being fair in this case means taking that leopard and removing it from African savannah so it cannot kill any more lion cubs.

But those who accuse me of murder are not interested in being fair. They connect dots that do not exist. They are not truly interested in rights.