Wiki:
“A blank is a firearm cartridge that generates a muzzle flash and an explosive sound (muzzle report) like any normal gunshots, and the firearm experiences a recoil capable of cycling its action, but without shooting a projectile (e.g. bullet or shot). Blanks are often used for shooting simulations that have no need for ballistic results but still demand light and sound effects, such as in historical reenactments, special effects for theatre, movie and television productions, combat training, for signalling (see starting pistol), and cowboy mounted shooting. Specialised blank cartridges are also used for their propellant force in fields as varied as construction, shooting sports, and fishing and general recreation.
While blanks are less dangerous than live ammunition, they are far from harmless, and can in fact be fatal. Beside the hot combustion gases, any objects in the cartridge itself (like wadding or a bullet-shaped plug keeping the propellant in place) or the barrel will be propelled at high velocity and cause injury or death at close range.
Blank cartridges differ from the inert/fake ammunitions such as dummy cartridges and snap caps, which contain no primer or gunpowder to even produce flash and sound and are used for “cold” training or function-testing firearm actions. They are also different from the percussion caps used in cap guns, which also produce a sound of gunfire but only consist the equivalent of the primer with no propellant or casing.’
It’s the wadding that is a problem for close up “head” shots. Doubt a blank was what Baldwin fired.
This wasn't a Glock semi-auto that's so dangerously prone to unintentional discharges due to it's idiotically unsafe design.
This was a single action revolver.
He had to do three separate things to kill that poor woman.
Manually cock it, point it, and pull the trigger.
Not accidental.
He should go off and Laundrie himself. It would be the honorable thing to do.
Thanks for the info. This couldn’t have been a wadding problem because two people were hit. Maybe the blank’s cartridge was defective, and broke into pieces. Then it would be like firing a shotgun shell.
“Doubt a blank was what Baldwin fired.”
Same here. A wad will not injure two people. There is more to this.
Not entirely accurate. The "wadding" is propelled and becomes a projectile, yes, but the hot gases pushing that wadding or any projectile--they do damage too, especially if contact or near-contact range at a thin bone area (the temple or eye)--the gases can alone break the bone and then go into the target with great force and expand internally and tear and break tissues and bones. On a contact head shot, the bullet has already gone in (and often out of) the head while the slower gases are still entering and expanding, and the expansion does more fracturing than the bullet itself. A blank can kill this way, even if the "wadding" is just a thin flimsy paper disk holding the gunpowder in the cartridge, with the gas being the "projectile." Plus--anything already in the barrel ahead of the wadding or hot gases, such as metal fragments, plastic fragments, etc. from previous firing (whether of real ammo or blanks) or whatever was placed into or fell into the barrel from carelessness or malice (dirt, gravel, sand, salt, ice, snow, bb's, airsoft plastic pellets, etc.), or anything in between the muzzle and the target, such as a glass plate, a wood wall, a steel door, etc., can all be propelled secondarily and become projectiles that can maim or kill.
When we were training with blanks and MILES gear in the Army, we were not supposed to shoot at someone within a certain distance (I think it was 10-20 yards). We were supposed to yell “Safety kill!” The reason: We had blank adapters plugging the barrels of our rifles, which were required so that the gas from the blanks could cycle the action. If the blank adapter (or the flash hider to which it was mounted) was not mounted correctly or damaged, you could have a pretty nasty projectile at close range.