Posted on 09/12/2010 6:01:09 PM PDT by skyman
I'm unsure if the guy was shooting it gangsta style. He hit one dog, after all. The weapon was probably within 20° from vertical. Maybe the powder charge was insufficient (if he was handloading) or perhaps the oil dried up on the moving parts. If the slide seized due to dust and dirt then you can't clear the jam easily.
But indeed when you need reliability a revolver is the way to go. Point and click. But count the shots; a reload may take a while.
Tough situation. Multiple targets, very little time. A large caliber round in the ear has been known to achieve the desired result. A shotgun works better, but under stress everything changes (hand to eye coordination, depth perception, ect.). They were fortunate.
I wouldn’t care who owned what vicious breed if they properly trained, caged, and restrained them. But they don’t. They don’t believe their dogs could ever be dangerous, they won’t put the time and money into buying and building sufficient enclosures designed for their animals. They don’t investigate or accept aggression statistics for their dogs and they won’t seek professional training on how to handle such dogs. They won’t put muzzles on them when they take them for a walk because their dogs have not bitten THEM and they feel uncomfortable by the attention a muzzled dog (and their owner) receives. Reminds me of the 110lb woman who was walking her 2 dogs (combined weight 240lbs) when her dogs attacked and killed a neighbor. If owners handled these issues, we would not read of dogs killing or maiming people as often as we do.
And all owners will handle those issue the same day all drinkers stop getting behind the wheel of automobiles. We'll continue seeing frequent such stories as this.
My late mother kept a loaded Beretta 418 (6.35 cal) next to her bed for many many years. When she passed away I retrieved the gun to find it was impossible to for me to pull the slide and eject the round. My son helped me disengage the extractor and open the slide. Then with a small screw driver used as a lever and lots of WD40, I removed the round. I never thought of taking it outside and firing it; so, I don’t know if it would have ejected the casing.
I’d like to ‘help’ owners with this issue. I support those who say that people owning certain breeds that account for a disproportionate number of injuries and death should be required to have an ‘exotic animal’ license. They would be required to have their animal enclosures inspected and certified and would have to pass a test regarding safe handling of the animal. Then, reports of their animals running free would add up - after or 3 ‘he just got out somehow’ reports, pull the license. I know that sounds harsh but the ‘he just got out’ isn’t enough when reading about a baby attacked IN HER HOME by a pair of pit bulls who crashed through the screen door of the house to get her. I am not saying all dogs or even ‘all big dogs’ but a reasoned attempt to use what is known about dog bite and fatalities to come up with a list of dogs requiring a special license.
Found a list of ‘death by dogbite statistics’ for the US during a 20 year period (1979 - 1998) taken from page 2 of this document: http://www.dogbitelaw.com/breeds-causing-DBRFs.pdf
PUREBRED
Pit bull-type 66
Rottweiler 39
German Shepherd 17
Husky-type 15
Malamute 12
Doberman Pinscher 9
Chow Chow 8
Great Dane 7
Saint Bernard 7
CROSSBRED
Wolf-dog hybrid 14
Mixed- Breed 12
German Shepherd Dog 10
Pit bull-type 10
Husky-type 6
Rottweiler 5
Alaskan Malamute 3
Chow Chow 3
Doberman Pinscher 2
Saint Bernard 1
Great Dane 1
It was a very wise decision to not fire the weapon. Shooting a malfunctioning gun is unsafe. You didn't even know if the bore was clear of obstructions; if not, the gun could explode in your hands.
There would be another unpleasant possibility too - you pull the trigger, you hear "click" and nothing happens. Now what? You have a live round in the barrel, with a dimpled primer, ready to go off at any time, from one second to ten years from now. And you can't eject that round. What do you do now?
Firearms need to be regularly checked, cleaned, oiled and preferrably fired to keep them in good working order. A few drops of oil every couple of months look like a great investment, considering how much good firearms cost.
That’s a very interesting set of stats. And I’d bet the past ten years would show an even greater number of fatal attacks by the breeds preferred by drug dealers and general thugs and low lifes.
Just as important would be a list of attacks causing serious, but not fatal injuries. There would probably be many more of those since many managed to escape the attacking dogs, or are helped by someone.
And I guess some insurance companies are already refusing to offer liability coverage to owners of some breeds.
A pit - Mastiff cross should be an extremely dangerous animal if angered. Mastiffs are much much larger than standard pits and Mastiffs have about twice the biting power. Combine all that with the “pit bull attitude” and this dog should be extremely formidible.
It’s amazing that pit bulls top the charts on murders because they are not as large as rottweilers or dobermans. So that’s alot of aggression packed into a medium large athletic dog with particular fighting advantages! Then cross one of those ‘tudes with a mastiff! Can’t begin to imagine what it would be like to ‘face’ even one pit-mastiff crossbreed let alone a few of them. The guy in the article said ‘they had her off the ground and were trying to rend her apart’. That’s the stuff of nightmares.
Having to have high dollar insurance with some breeds would solve some of the problems....If the dog badly mauls anybody you lose your home to the victim and pay all medical bills. People would be a lot more careful with dangerous dogs if that was the case...A little jail time might also help....
His garage had to have a key to open the door from the outside or inside....it go broken into once via a small window....then the bad guys couldn't get out and had to leave via the same window without much....they wanted his T Bird.....
I had a nightmare last night. I dreamt that Dolly Parton was my mommy and I was a bottle baby.
“If the dog badly mauls anybody you lose your home to the victim and pay all medical bills.”
I suspect that dog attacks would drop to almost nil, regardless of breed, if this were codified into state or local law.
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