Thread: question about VT shooter???

I have a question for the gun owners here.

The S Korean student who slaughtered our children on Monday sent a package to NBC. In that packet were pictures. One of the pictures shows a table full of hollow point bullets. I thought these were illegal? Are they?
Aren't they used for maximum damage?

Did anyone catch the terrorist overtones in his ramblings about "our spilled blood" And doing this for "My children and brothers and sisters""

they're legal

Originally Posted by ProudAmericanFamily

I have a question for the gun owners here.

The S Korean student who slaughtered our children on Monday sent a package to NBC. In that packet were pictures. One of the pictures shows a table full of hollow point bullets. I thought these were illegal? Are they?
Aren't they used for maximum damage?

Did anyone catch the terrorist overtones in his ramblings about "our spilled blood" And doing this for "My children and brothers and sisters""

Hollowpoints are legal in most states. Precious few bullets are illegal to possess, though some types may no longer be manufactured and imported (including any ammo now classified as "armor piercing," such as the old tungsten-core 7.62 X 39 rounds). However, I believe that the numbskulls in the New Jersey legislature have banned hollowpoints in that state. Of course, don't bother trying to tell those mental midgets that hollowpoints are SAFER than FMJ because they are unlikely to overpenetrate and kill someone on the other side of a wall or of the intended target.

In answer to your question about "maximum damage," that is a misconception. While part of the reason for hollowpoint design is so-called "stopping power," which is a function of velocity times mass times frontal area of the projectile (mass divided by frontal area is called sectional density - high sectional density penetrates while low sectional density rapidly expends projectile energy and decelerates), the primary reason most people use them in their home defense weapons is that they deform and flatten on initial impact, causing them to rapidly dissipate their energy. Hollowpoints are designed with an eye to opening (flattening) to approximately twice their original caliber (diameter), thereby quartering sectional density. The conical shape that provides good aerodynamics while the bullet is in flight also allows the bullet to pass right through solid objects, but the hollowpoints' tendency to flatten on impact results in the bullet transitioning from low sectional density in flight (good aerodynamics) to high sectional density in flesh (bad hydrodynamics). The hollowpoint therefore gives you the best of both worlds - good aerodynamic performance en route to the target and high energy dissipation in the target. This is obviously a good thing when it comes to taking down a bad guy, because you want as much energy as possible doing the job of knocking him down, but it is also good if you are shooting at a home intruder and fail to take into account that your sleeping children are on the other side of the wall that the villain is standing against. Hardball ammo (also called FMJ or "full metal jacket") has a tendency to pass through the initial object impacted, dissipating relatively little of its energy because of its relatively low sectional density compared with hollowpoints. This means that there is plenty of residual energy left over to penetrate objects on the other side of the wall, the bad guy, or whatever else the bullet initially strikes.

There are other alternatives to hollowpoints, such as prefragmented rounds, which typically consist of compressed shot in a resin matrix. These dissipate virtually all of their energy on something as thin as a single layer of sheetrock, making overpenetration a near impossibility. But because they generally cause a massive wound channel as they fragment inside a target, I can't imagine that the New Jersey lawmakers would be any more favorably predisposed toward them than they would be toward hollowpoints.

CG,

Thanks so much for taking the time to explain that!

It gave me a lot to consider as far as home protection as well!

Originally Posted by ProudAmericanFamily

CG,

Thanks so much for taking the time to explain that!

It gave me a lot to consider as far as home protection as well!

No thanks needed.

For what it's worth - and I hate to say it, but... - I believe that the Jersey Devils knew exactly what they were doing when they banned hollowpoints. I believe that there is a fairly good chance that deaths of innocent people from overpentration of hardball ammo is just the sort of padding to the "innocent death" stats the anti-gun crowd needs and hopes to gain from this ludicrous legislation. The truth of the matter is that pretty much all the existing stats about home defense with a firearm come down on the side of the gun rights activists and against the arguments of the gun-grabbers. The anti-gun lobby is trying desperately to change that, and I don't believe they are above trying to indirectly cause innocent deaths to bolster their cause. Remember, the ends always justify the means for the radical Left.

Originally Posted by CrocketsGhost

Originally Posted by ProudAmericanFamily

CG,

Thanks so much for taking the time to explain that!

It gave me a lot to consider as far as home protection as well!

No thanks needed.

For what it's worth - and I hate to say it, but... - I believe that the Jersey Devils knew exactly what they were doing when they banned hollowpoints. I believe that there is a fairly good chance that deaths of innocent people from overpentration of hardball ammo is just the sort of padding to the "innocent death" stats the anti-gun crowd needs and hopes to gain from this ludicrous legislation. The truth of the matter is that pretty much all the existing stats about home defense with a firearm come down on the side of the gun rights activists and against the arguments of the gun-grabbers. The anti-gun lobby is trying desperately to change that, and I don't believe they are above trying to indirectly cause innocent deaths to bolster their cause. Remember, the ends always justify the means for the radical Left.

Please, Crocket,
don't use the name of my fave Hockey Team when speaking of the evil sitting in the NJ seats of power That' s a really big jinx and they don't deserve to be unintentionally associated with the likes of Menendez the Racist, Lautenberg {the rigored Sen.} and Corzine the ass.
Euwwww, I already feel dirty.

Hollow points:
don't they spread wide for a larger hole after they enter? Greater inner damage {or make more of a mess inside} without exiting, if I remember correctly?

Originally Posted by 2ndamendsis

Originally Posted by CrocketsGhost

Originally Posted by ProudAmericanFamily

CG,

Thanks so much for taking the time to explain that!

It gave me a lot to consider as far as home protection as well!

No thanks needed.

For what it's worth - and I hate to say it, but... - I believe that the Jersey Devils knew exactly what they were doing when they banned hollowpoints. I believe that there is a fairly good chance that deaths of innocent people from overpentration of hardball ammo is just the sort of padding to the "innocent death" stats the anti-gun crowd needs and hopes to gain from this ludicrous legislation. The truth of the matter is that pretty much all the existing stats about home defense with a firearm come down on the side of the gun rights activists and against the arguments of the gun-grabbers. The anti-gun lobby is trying desperately to change that, and I don't believe they are above trying to indirectly cause innocent deaths to bolster their cause. Remember, the ends always justify the means for the radical Left.

Please, Crocket,
don't use the name of my fave Hockey Team when speaking of the evil sitting in the NJ seats of power That' s a really big jinx and they don't deserve to be unintentionally associated with the likes of Menendez the Racist, Lautenberg {the rigored Sen.} and Corzine the ass.
Euwwww, I already feel dirty.

Hollow points:
don't they spread wide for a larger hole after they enter? Greater inner damage {or make more of a mess inside} without exiting, if I remember correctly?

Correct.

I have another question about the pictures. Who took them? The shooter has both hands visible in several of the posed photos. I suppose he could have used a timer, but it seems odd that he was both able and inclined to take so many posed photos between shootings. And where were these photos taken?