# Klansman injured in initiation ceremony **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 25, 2003, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klansman-injured-in-initiation-ceremony/215148 "2003-11-25T07:02:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Kakkerlak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bb73d2/32.png) [@Kakkerlak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kakkerlak)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klansman-injured-in-initiation-ceremony/215148/41 "2003-11-26T05:13:14Z")
Thanks for that, **patchbunny**. You’ve saved the Board from my less-educated statements about terminal velocity. IIRC a guy in my town got hit by a .22 that had come tumbling out of the sky a few summers ago. He was out on his boat, in the middle of the lake, when he felt a “sting”… the bullet penetrated only about 1/4 inch thanks to a thick spinal bone. Talkin’ 'bout your basic bad/good luck combo. My company’s biggest competitor has their USA HQ in Johnson City, TN. I wonder how the Germans get along with the Klansmen ? I wonder if it was a ricochet instead of a sky shot. That would explain why it was still moving fast enough to enter and exit the skull. ---
**Author:** ![Iamb\_Fake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8c91f0/32.png) [@Iamb\_Fake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iamb_Fake)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klansman-injured-in-initiation-ceremony/215148/42 "2003-11-26T06:51:55Z")
The article I read claimed the bullet actually exited the base of his skull (speaking of penetration), and he was listed in critical condition. I was wondering, exactly, where a bullet might exit the base of one’s skull and not simply kill one outright? The chin? Perhaps god is simply toying with him, finger hovering over the smite button, as it were. Why this doesn’t happen to klansmen more often, I’ll never know. ---
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klansman-injured-in-initiation-ceremony/215148/43 "2003-11-26T09:03:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by yojimbo \* > \*\*They don’t go into orbit you know :smack: \*\* No, I think they do. They just don’t _stay_ in orbit, partially because of wind resistance and partially because their eccentricity is way too high and their trajectory intersects the Earth’s surface… ---
**Author:** ![Gmork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f19dbf/32.png) [@Gmork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gmork)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klansman-injured-in-initiation-ceremony/215148/44 "2003-11-26T09:17:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by astro \* > What is the estimated return velocity and impact force of a 38 or 44 caliber bullet fired into the air and tumbling back down. Depends - Is it an African bullet or a European bullet? Sorry. I had to. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klansman-injured-in-initiation-ceremony/215148/45 "2003-11-26T14:41:27Z")
You gotta feel bad for the douchewad’s family. A bullet in the head is bad enough, a bullet in the head at a Klan ceremony - reported by all the major media - really sucks. Of course, the family may be nothing to write home about either… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klansman-injured-in-initiation-ceremony/215148.md?page=2)