Posted on 12/12/2023 12:28:01 PM PST by Red Badger
A 57-year-old Wisconsin woman received superficial wounds to her right buttock earlier this year when a concealed firearm on her person was subjected to the powerful magnetism of an MRI device.
Though her injuries were relatively minor, consisting of a clean entry and exit through subcutaneous tissue, the incident is yet another reminder of the potentially deadly consequences of taking a loaded firearm into places where loaded firearms have no place.
Detailed in a report by the US Food and Drug Administration, the case follows a shockingly similar incident that took place in Brazil just a few months prior, in which a 40-year-old man died as a result of injuries sustained when his own gun fired in close proximity to an active MRI scanner.
Just how the unnamed woman in the more recent incident managed to slip her handgun past medical staff isn't clear, with personnel reporting the patient had undergone the standard screening procedure for potentially magnetic items, one that includes specific references to weapons.
MRI devices are seriously powerful, in all senses of the word. Not only are they useful for producing detailed images of our squishy bits for specialists to diagnose injuries and illnesses, they operate by producing incredibly strong electromagnetic fields.
Those fields twist the protons in your tissues so they all line up in the same direction like tiny compasses. When jiggled with a follow-up pulse of radio waves, the protons take differing amounts of time to realign; differences that translate into variations in tissue, which can be used to build an anatomical map.
While all protons wiggle and waggle in a magnetic field, the arrangements of particles in ferromagnetic materials – such as the elements iron, nickel, and cobalt – amplify this effect. Bathed in an MRI's typical magnetic field of around 1.5 to 3 tesla, there's less wiggling and more heating, shaking, and leaping.
That's the physics behind the basic rule of keeping metallic objects far away from an MRI. That includes piercings, jewelry, coins, phones, crucifixes, Iron Age artifacts, throwing stars, toy cars, lucky horseshoes, magnetic eyelashes, house keys, and, of course, firearms.
It's possible these (and other) unfortunate incidences are simply cases of feeling so at ease with packing heat that the weapon's presence just slips one's mind.
Given the risk of severe injury or death to one's self and others, stories like these can only serve as a reminder to double check and then check again if you're armed before entering a tube pumping out the magnetism of a few thousand fridge magnets. It just might save your ass.
Anybody you know?...................
Ping!..................
When I was working at the MRI plant for GE there was an incident in New York where a police officer refused to lock his weapon in the provided personal lockers and went into the magnet room with it still in his holster. Immediately ripped out of his belt and discharged in the center of the magnet. Luckily no one was injured.
They had to ramp down the magnet to get it out - which basically lost the hospital the MRI for the day.
You bhave no 2nd amnedment rights in an MRI scanning room.
See how easy that was?
Now watch for the next incursion. I can unload my gun and still bring it. Or have a lead lined cover.No problem then.
Bunch of scuzzy leftists.
Argue the Second Amendment all you like ... Ignore the laws of physics if you dare ...
But I guarantee you, THE LAWS OF PHYSICS WILL NEVER IGNORE YOU.
I remember hearing about that.
I used to work for a company that made Cat Scan machines back in the early 90’s....................
“While all protons wiggle and waggle in a magnetic field...”
I just LOVE science porn.
She shot herself in the butt. The 80% unconstitutional federal govnet is attempting to shoot America and our lives, liberties, and free pursuits in the head.
Worth repeating the truth as often as possible in this age of lies, deceit, and delusion.
Who cares?
lead is not magnetic, neither is polymer
you could always use titanium for the random other parts
Yup....recoil can get YOU every time.
The IRON is the problem.
The magnet is so powerful that your gun will be ripped away from your holster...................
The gun is made of iron.....................
Well, get a ceramic gun.
They print them every day.
that is cause she was stupid.
(not that I would take a gun into an mri room regardless.)
Ceramic gun?
Yeah, now we’ve gone off to Absurdistan ...
“Bathed in an MRI’s typical magnetic field of around 1.5 to 3 tesla, there’s less wiggling and more heating, shaking, and leaping.” Not sure, but I think I saw this on Skin-emax back in the 90s... ;)
Did the gun actually discharge? Or was the firearm itself the projectile?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.