Boy, 4, killed as he sat in church by bullet fired TWO miles away

[Irving]

I was under the impression that if you fire a gun straight up into the air, the bullet will tumble on the way down at a much slower rate than it went into the air, and most likely, not be lethal. In order to kill someone from that far away, you'd have to shoot under like a 60* angle or something right?

[theGinsue]

And I didn't appreciate how they called the AK an "assault rifle."

I caught this too and just let it go. The Brady bunch has done such a great job getting that phrase into our vocabulary - esp. for the media, that it's even caught on overseas. It's a mindset that we, who know better, can slowly work to change - one person at a time.

[tbaby303]

Man what a sad story. How would we fill if that was one of our kids? My prayer go out to that family

[GreenScoutII]

I was under the impression that if you fire a gun straight up into the air, the bullet will tumble on the way down at a much slower rate than it went into the air, and most likely, not be lethal. In order to kill someone from that far away, you'd have to shoot under like a 60* angle or something right?

Yeah, if the bullet is fired straight up into the air, it will expend it's energy and return to earth only by gravity. Fire that same bullet at much of an angle, it is likely to become lethal.

I would bet money the dumbass who was shooting his rifle wasn't thinking about such things, and if he was, he didn't care.

[Troublco]

Another instance of some syphilitic moron with no regard for anyone but themselves causing pain for someone else, not to mention stealing a 4 year old's future. And, in the process, furthering the Brady bunch's BS.

[Pistol Packing Preacher]

Heart wrenching!

My prayers for the family!

[iamhunter]

Very sad. I'm pretty curious as to how they know the bullet was fired two miles away though?

[GreenScoutII]

Actually, it will maintain its axis from the barrel (all bullets do) even through the apex and continue down to the ground base first.

When fired at a steep angle, it will maintain its axis from the barrel during the entire flight (all bullets, and in fact, any spin stabilized projectile.. including some artillery) meaning when fired at extreme angles the bullet is no longer penetrating anything along its axis. As in, if you fire a round with 30 degrees elevation, whatever it impacts, the bullet will still be pointing the same direction of the barrel (30 degrees above horizon) when it does.

A researcher back in the day clocked a 30-06 round as gaining about 12,000 feet in elevation before reaching apex, and coming down base first, denting wood reasonably well but I wouldn't go so far as to say it had penetration.

For it to be two miles away, you can be VERY certain it was fired at a pretty steep angle.. and even then I have my doubts. At 3000 feet it would have already dropped to less than 950 feet per second forward velocity (very lethal). But.. two miles is over 7500 feet beyond that. Can a 7.62x39 go two miles? You betcha. Can it go two miles, rip through a ceiling and cause a catastrophic wound as described... I REALLY doubt it. Sure, any bullet at any range can be lethal just like a pellet with 4 foot pounds of energy has killed people before, but it doesn't have the energy to make a mess of it.

I have to wonder if their ballistics expert is an on scene Sarah Brady. "Yup, see this hole? That means its an ASSAULT RIFLE, probably an AK-47 based on the terrorism damage."

Proof in point, if they don't know who the hell fired the round, or where, then how the hell was it an AK-47? Even if they know it is a 7.62x39 bullet... that does not, in fact, conclude it was an AK.

Ok. Thanks for setting me straight on the ballistics.

Yeah, I agree this unfortunate incident will be used as a reason to further malign so called assault rifles....

[iamhunter]

man some of the comments on that article reflect an unbelievable level of stupidity.

[mutt]

Very sad for this family. I feel for them.
I too wonder how they 'know' the bullet came from 2 miles away. And how do they 'know' it came from an AK. My SKS shoots 7.62x39 as well. I sense a lot of anti-gun bias in this.