# 17 yo shot in the face with a frog **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 18, 2003, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/17-yo-shot-in-the-face-with-a-frog/169552 "2003-04-18T14:55:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Macro\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Macro\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Macro_Man)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/17-yo-shot-in-the-face-with-a-frog/169552/1 "2003-04-18T14:55:44Z")
I couldn’t find a link that didn’t require registration, but here’s a clip from the Denton [TX] Record Chronicle: \*\*A Denton teen is in critical condition after being shot in the face with a frog exploding from a potato gun, and his mother wants to know why the illegal weapons are available on the Internet. Daniel Benjamin Berry, 17, was taken to John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth early Sunday after he looked down the PVC pipe barrel and was struck in the face by a frog. “He is going to be blind in both eyes,” said his mother, Lisa Berry, from her vigil in the critical care waiting room. “Some other kid ordered one [potato gun] over the Internet. They thought it was a toy. It’s not a toy. It’s a dangerous weapon.” \*\* Sometimes the karma train runs right the fuck over you. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/17-yo-shot-in-the-face-with-a-frog/169552/2 "2003-04-18T14:58:18Z")
Who had the bad karma? The kid, or the frog? ---
**Author:** ![yme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/35a633/32.png) [@yme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yme)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/17-yo-shot-in-the-face-with-a-frog/169552/3 "2003-04-18T14:58:48Z")
What’s the problem here? This is the problem. Now that he’s blind, he won’t be able to look down the barrel of a real gun, like he should’ve the first time. _Stupid_ fucking kid. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/17-yo-shot-in-the-face-with-a-frog/169552/4 "2003-04-18T14:59:52Z")
They say he was lucky he didn’t croak. Just to elaborate, some kids were having some trouble with the 'tator gun, and he went over to help them. He wasn’t the person that purchased the gun, nor did he put the frog in it. ---
**Author:** ![yme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/35a633/32.png) [@yme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yme)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/17-yo-shot-in-the-face-with-a-frog/169552/5 "2003-04-18T15:07:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by World Eater \* > \*\*They say he was lucky he didn’t croak. > > Just to elaborate, some kids were having some trouble with the 'tator gun, and he went over to help them. He wasn’t the person that purchased the gun, nor did he put the frog in it. \*\* Even so. The first rule of looking down the barrel of any gun: Don’t ever look down the barrel of any gun. ---
**Author:** ![Fingolfin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eada6e/32.png) [@Fingolfin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fingolfin)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/17-yo-shot-in-the-face-with-a-frog/169552/6 "2003-04-18T15:16:24Z")
Pardon my ignorance, but just what the heck is a “Potato Gun”? A gun that shoots potatoes?!? And how exactly do you lock-n-load a frog? ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/17-yo-shot-in-the-face-with-a-frog/169552/7 "2003-04-18T15:16:41Z")
Some guys in college had a potato gun. One of them got shot in the nads with a potato. It wasn’t pretty. He was ok, but not for a few weeks. ---
**Author:** ![carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrot)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/17-yo-shot-in-the-face-with-a-frog/169552/8 "2003-04-18T15:23:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fingolfin \* > \*\*Pardon my ignorance, but just what the heck is a “Potato Gun”? A gun that shoots potatoes?!? And how exactly do you lock-n-load a frog? \*\* Kind of. It’s a length of tube (pvc, I think, is popular) with one end sealed, and an opening to allow access, with an igniter mounted inside. Anyway, you shove the potato (or frog, evidently) down in the barrel (make sure it’s snug), open the ‘breech’, spray in something flammable, close it up, and ignite (a friend of mine had one with one of those spark lighters from a gas grill in it). The potato comes out going _very_ fast. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/17-yo-shot-in-the-face-with-a-frog/169552/9 "2003-04-18T15:28:15Z")
So, uh, how’s the frog? ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/17-yo-shot-in-the-face-with-a-frog/169552/10 "2003-04-18T15:33:21Z")
Yes, good lord, people, won’t someone think of the frogs? BTW, since when are potato guns illegal? ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/17-yo-shot-in-the-face-with-a-frog/169552/11 "2003-04-18T15:33:31Z")
Fingolfin, a potato gun is kind of a primitive cannon designed to shoot, well, potatoes. I’ve never heard of anyone _buying_ one, as they’re pretty easy to make. I suspect that the gun itself was not purchased on the 'net, but rather the plans and instructions for it. A potato gun is muzzle-loaded, like an old musket or Renaissance cannon. You can shove anything you want down there, as long as it’s around the right size, and it’ll serve as ammo. Potatoes are popular because they’re about the right size, fairly dense & massive, tough enough to not disintegrate on launch, and real cheap. A seventeen-year-old who doesn’t know better than to look down the barrel of a piece of artillery with a ~6" bore that can shoot a potato several hundred feet, while it’s cocked and loaded, is well on his way to finding plenty of clever ways to get himself killed, IMO. I’m more concerned, personally, with the state of mind the kids were in that made them think it was funny to load animals instead of vegetables in the thing … ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/17-yo-shot-in-the-face-with-a-frog/169552/12 "2003-04-18T15:35:53Z")
I use hair spray and can launch a tuber a good 200 yards. Still, the whole premise is that the tight fit of the projectile allows the compression to build. They must have wedged the damn frog in to get it to exit that fast. ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/17-yo-shot-in-the-face-with-a-frog/169552/13 "2003-04-18T15:41:15Z")
This is a link to an article: [http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/local/5645241.htm](http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/local/5645241.htm) From another thread on this subject called “[Fun With Frogs!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=177860)”. ---
**Author:** ![carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrot)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/17-yo-shot-in-the-face-with-a-frog/169552/14 "2003-04-18T15:43:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lieu \* > \*\*They must have wedged the damn frog in to get it to exit that fast. \*\* Big frog combined with a small bore…It wouldn’t really have been that hard. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/17-yo-shot-in-the-face-with-a-frog/169552/15 "2003-04-18T15:58:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Happy Lendervedder \* > \*\*So, uh, how’s the frog? \*\* Dunno. The victim hasn’t seen it lately. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/17-yo-shot-in-the-face-with-a-frog/169552/16 "2003-04-18T15:59:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by yme \* > \*\*Even so. The first rule of looking down the barrel of any gun: > > Don’t ever look down the barrel of any gun. \*\* Well, no shit. ---
**Author:** ![carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrot)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/17-yo-shot-in-the-face-with-a-frog/169552/17 "2003-04-18T16:07:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by World Eater \* > \*\*Well, no shit. \*\* Apparently, this knowledge isn’t as common as we thought. ---
**Author:** ![Anaximenes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e99b99/32.png) [@Anaximenes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaximenes)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/17-yo-shot-in-the-face-with-a-frog/169552/18 "2003-04-18T16:09:45Z")
For the record, you can buy them online: [http://www.spudtech.com/](http://www.spudtech.com/) The full article is also there, about 2/3 down the page. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/17-yo-shot-in-the-face-with-a-frog/169552/19 "2003-04-18T16:25:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by carrot \* > \*\*Apparently, this knowledge isn’t as common as we thought. \*\* Yep right after I clicked submit, I knew someone would say that. I would have thought we’d have some French jokes by now. ---
**Author:** ![Jdeforrest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/49beb7/32.png) [@Jdeforrest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jdeforrest)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/17-yo-shot-in-the-face-with-a-frog/169552/20 "2003-04-18T16:30:16Z")
Think it’ll be worthy of an honorable mention in the Darwin awards? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/17-yo-shot-in-the-face-with-a-frog/169552.md?page=2)