quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:
In the Miami shooting, Platt, I think it was, was shot int the heart and continued to fight for some time with a shot that should have stopped him almost immediately, but he had the mindset to continue fighting.

All good comments; the mindset makes all the difference. Many people who look at the subject of wound ballistics and what happens when someone is shot cling stubbornly to the idea that if the physical structures of a body aren’t destroyed that the target won’t be “stopped,” but that’s not always true.

On the one hand, if someone’s femur is shattered or spine is severed by a bullet, that will affect his physical abilities in a profound way. If something like that does not happen, it’s possible for someone who is motivated strongly enough to continue fighting through lesser injuries. That was reportedly something a British representative brought up in an early law of war conference. His contention was that expanding bullets could be banned for conflicts among “civilized” powers because their soldiers would lay down and call for help if shot, no matter the extent of the actual injury. Uncivilized fighters, however, would keep fighting until physically destroyed, and therefore more destructive bullets were necessary and justified when fighting them.

On the other, people are conscious creatures who often know and understand what’s happening to them when injured. Just like the civilized draftee who doesn’t want to be on the battlefield and who calls for help regardless how serious his actual injury is, the mindset of others makes a big difference. There are countless videos showing how robbers or other intruders react when someone has a gun and starts shooting at them whether they’re hit or not. Very few do anything other than turn and scramble away as fast as their feet will take them.

In the Miami incident, the best early shot was fired by a member of the FBI SWAT team. The bullet, a 115 grain Winchester Silvertip, passed through his upper arm into his chest. It was directly in line with his heart, but stopped a short distance before reaching it. The wound was later deemed “unsurvivable” by examiners, but it was also believed that he would have been incapacitated earlier if the bullet had entered or perforated the heart. The result of that one shot was reportedly the reason why the FBI dropped the 9mm at the time and switched first to the 10mm and then to the 40 S&W cartridges. That was also the birth of the 147 grain 9mm loading that penetrated farther than lighter bullets.

In any event, the killer was clearly highly motivated. He was reportedly a former Army Ranger with Vietnam combat experience who had armed himself with a Ruger Mini-14 and had practiced with it. But his partner who had the same background and experience was out of the fight almost immediately and never caused any good guy casualties.