I have too much of this and I am a deadly weapon.
Posted on 09/10/2009 8:28:29 AM PDT by KeyLargo
Sep 9, 2009 10:40 pm US/Central
Air Rifles And BB Guns: Toys Or Weapons? SEND A TIP TO THE 2 INVESTIGATORS Reporting Dave Savini CHICAGO (CBS) ―
Just a few hours ago a Naperville high school student was arrested for shooting a BB gun at students from Chrone middle school. Fortunately no one was hurt. Not the same can be said for one Glen Ellyn woman who had a BB pellet pulled out of her heart. That's why there is a growing call to have BB guns and air rifles regulated like handguns. CBS 2 Investigator Dave Savini takes a look at whether these are toys or weapons.
They are powerful and can cause fatal injuries.
A pellet was removed from Heather Van Horne's heart.
"I was hooked up to life support," Van Horne said. "This my scar."
She was just a teenager when she was shot by an air rifle at a New Year's Eve party in St. Charles. Van Horne is proof that a pellet gun or BB gun is dangerous.
"It almost killed me," she said.
Van Horne wants pellet guns and BB guns treated the same as other lethal weapons.
"These are deadly weapons. I don't care how you want to look at it. These guns kill," said Dr. Michael Tuchek.
Dr. Tuchek is the surgeon who saved Van Horne's life at Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove.
Dr. Tuchek grew up on a farm using guns, and isn't opposed to people owning air rifles or BB guns. He just wants them regulated the same as other lethal weapons, with background checks and firearm cards.
This CO2-powered hand gun fires pellets nearly 400 feet per second. This rifle with a scope: 1,200 feet per second.
"They can kill somebody just like a 38-caliber or Saturday night special," Dr Tuchek said.
Dr. Tuchek says anything that shoots a projectile can cause serious injury, like an 8-year-old who suffered damage when he was struck by a paintball.
The Valentino brothers have been struck by pellets fired from the increasingly popular Airsoft guns. Vince Valentino, 10, and his 9-year-old brother Jim have sustained welts playing in their Lemont neighborhood.
They say the battles happen in the woods, and they've seen kids get hit in the face. Vince says he was shot in the face with an automatic.
"First time I got shot with that, I was crying for like 10 minutes," Jim said.
We found even Airsoft guns can fire pellets 300 to 700 feet per second.
"It's made 'em bleed," said Vito Valentino, Jim and Vince's father.
When he found out about it, their father says he put an end to their involvement in the neighborhood battles, especially after he learned kids had found a way to increase the velocity of their Airsoft guns.
"They have the CO2 cartridges for the Airsoft guns which makes them five times more powerful than a gun like this," Vito said.
So for now the Valentino boys are only allowed to shoot at paper targets.
So what would Vito's warning be to any other parent out there whose kids want these guns?
"If they don't have them, don't get them for them," Vito said.
And when it comes to the availability of the more powerful BB guns, Heather Van Horne says more regulation can't come too soon.
"I also wonder what it's going to take for people to want to take it more seriously," Van Horne said. "I am not the only one and I won't be the last person."
According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission as many as 20,000 injuries have been recorded in a year. And there are typically four deaths a year from high-powered air guns.
We have received numerous tips about kids hurt by the Airsoft guns as well but we could find no central database about the number injuries associated with them.
My SIL is of the don’t let kids play with toy guns variety and says “zionist” like it’s a bad word.
My parents were that way raising my sister and I. They didn't even let us have cap guns or water guns, nevermind something that shoots something solid.
Whenever I have kids, they'll have pellet rifles then firearms.
Among several others, I have an AirForce Condor in .25 caliber. Close to the power of a .22LR and a lot of fun to shoot.
I have too much of this and I am a deadly weapon.
Those were a part of my childhood that provided a great many hours of fun...
I play airsoft every other weekend. My M4 shoots at 370FPS. I’ve taken shots in the head on bare skin. While it can cause bleeding at a close range (less than 15 feet), it isn’t enough to embed the pellet.
We’ve got several people with sniper rifles that fire over 500FPS and we’ve never had more then welts.
The plastic pellets (biodegradable btw) that fire from airsoft guns don’t have the durability to withstand the impact. They crack/split on impact and that’s it. Unless you are firing copper or metallic pellets (which are too small for an airsoft gun, less than 6mm), you simply can’t kill with these things unless it is an absolute freak accident.
The idiots in the San Marcos break in that wound up dead were carrying pellet guns. Home owner had a REAL gun - two dead.
hehehehe Just bought my nephew (12 yo) a Baretta NEOS .22 semiauto and a Mossberg .410 shotgun.
There was much gnashing of teeth! However, when we came back from a day of punching holes in targets and trap shooting she seemed okay that the boy had found something which he liked so much! He keeps them at my house (my concession in the matter).
Good for you. I remember as a child taking a rifle to school for target practice and to scouting meetings for the same.
It isn’t all about muzzle velocity though. It depends on the amount of joules behind the pellet, pushing it through the air.
There aren’t enough joules of energy behind a plastic pellet to embed it more than 1cm in skin.
4 people per year are killed by air guns, bb guns or paint ball guns. The bulk of these are Darwin Award type adults.
39 kids have been killed by soccer goals in the last 20 years while not even playing soccer. Ban Soccer.
It'll break the skin!
My wife keeps telling me longer hair is coming back into style.
Fortunately my son is in football and the teams keep hair short - but at 13 years old, 6’0” and 200 pounds he is taller/bigger then almost everyone we know except his uncle that is at 6’3”
"You'll shoot......well, you know the rest."
We don't have them here. Maybe I should look back in the box and see if it came with one, like a Cracker Jack prize.
Its the scope that makes it go faster...
Shooting guns ping
I’ve got a couple of Air Arms rifles - these are my “classy” air guns. The Condor has Tony’s moderator and it’s real quiet.
I’ve still got a Big Bang cannon I bring out for the 4th and other holidays.
Definately a toy. The thing cannot be made to fire a projectile. The only possible harm is to one’s hearing
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