Albatross writes:
It has been my experience that a single shot from a .22 does not draw any attention. I've occasionally sniped nutria and problem raccoons and no ones even noticed.
I bet none gunnies just assume its a car backfiring. The swat team doesn't show up or anything=P.
Would any of you call the cops if you heard a single loud crack?
Fiddletown writes:
Quote:
Originally Posted by shaka
I didn't say that I was going to do it....
Of course not. You suggested that someone else should do it to prove your point. That is a preposterous, indeed dumb, thing to suggest that someone else do (at least if you did it, you'd be assuming the responsibility -- although it would be a very dumb thing for you, or anyone else, to actually do).
I reply:
Expvideo asked the question and I told him how to find the answer for himself. I don't have to conduct this experiment myself because I already know what is going to happen: Exactly nothing.
Humans assess risk based solely on their sense of vision, just as dogs assess risk based solely on their sense of smell. It is impossible to scare people with a loud noise for the same reason that it is impossible to scare dogs with a Halloween mask. They just don't get it.
People's #1 priority is to not embarrass themselves. And embarrassing oneself definately includes running from a loud noise and then looking around to discover that they are the only one running. That would be mortifying! So nobody will respond to a gunshot unless they see other people responding.
Thus, the effect a gunshot has on the crowd depends entirely on the effect it has on the victim, if there is one. If the victim responds to being shot by running away, then everybody will turn and bolt like a herd of antelope. If he responds by slumping over, then everybody will look out the corner of their eyes and, not seeing any action, they will dismiss the noise as irrelevant. This is true even for large caliber handguns.
I can support this statement with a personal experience:
A friend of mine bought - for a whopping $60 - a derringer chambered for the .410 shotgun cartridge. I told him that it was a piece-of-**** weapon. I said, "if you can't afford a real gun, carry a knife." But, as so often happens when I offer advice, my words fell on deaf ears. A few months later we were at a Hollywood Video store picking out movies when - Bang! - it went off in his pocket. There were about twenty people in the store at the time, some as close as ten feet away, and the response was... Nothing happened. My friend gave me a rather sheepish look, motioned to the door with his eyes and we calmly walked out of the store. (Note: My friend suffered only a minor powder burn and, yes, he did throw that $60 gun in the trash.)
I am also aware of, though did not personally witness, a man who shot himself in the ass in a crowded bar in downtown Tempe, AZ. He was sitting in a booth and had a Colt 1911 in his hip pocket. He walked out of the bar with a pained expression on his face and drove himself to the hospital. The bartender reports that she "heard a noise" but was unconcerned about it and did not know that a shot had been fired until she discovered the pool of blood under his table.
Also, about ten years ago in Northern California (I think it was Sacramento) a psycho who hated blonde women (Muslim, but before 9-11 when that wasn't an issue) took over a crowded bar with several handguns. He fired repeatly, shooting several people, and there was no immediate response. One person reported that he "thought it was firecrackers." Only when the psycho jumped onto a table and waved his guns around did the people catch on, at which point some ran and others froze, becoming hostages and having perverted sexual rituals performed on them.
Suppressors are a needless extravagance that will send you to prison if you obtain one illegally and will raise all kinds of red flags with LE if you obtain one legally. The only person whose mind is put at ease by suppressing pistol shots is the shooter, who otherwise might panic at the sound of his own gunfire, because he is the only one who knows what it represents.
Also, wet suppressors are very mission oriented as they require one to urinate in them before using them and they must be held upright to avoid staining one's clothes. Dry suppressors are bulky and ineffective. Why are they so popular? Television producers put a suppressor on every pistol because it looks vaguely sinister and, most importantly of all, the speakers on a TV set cannot reproduce a gunshot, so the presence of suppressors provides a logical reason why all gunshots on TV make a "poof" noise.
Suppressors are best left where they belong: in TV land. Carry an unsuppressed .22RF and don't worry about anybody responding to it.
Of course, the world is full of people who respond to every question by asking themselves, "What would John Wayne do?" Thus, I am sure that this thread will now be deluged by High Road discussants who insist (and truly believe) that they always respond to a gunshot by immediately springing into action, their minds whirring with activity, mentally triangulating on the source, identifying the caliber, plotting possible escape routes, etc., etc. Fine. Articulate that fantasy if you want.
