# To dumb to breathe, let alone own a gun... **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 25, 2008, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-dumb-to-breathe-let-alone-own-a-gun/442728 "2008-03-25T22:10:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2008, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-dumb-to-breathe-let-alone-own-a-gun/442728/21 "2008-03-26T04:25:42Z")
He should have done it like [this.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJPgaJngJJA) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2008, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-dumb-to-breathe-let-alone-own-a-gun/442728/22 "2008-03-26T04:38:27Z")
Thank ghod we prevented a _criminal_ from acquiring that weapon instead-someone might have gotten hurt! ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2008, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-dumb-to-breathe-let-alone-own-a-gun/442728/23 "2008-03-26T04:53:48Z")
[QUOTE=Rick] He should have done it like [this.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJPgaJngJJA) [/QUOTE] Ack! Can one suffer from sympathetic dizziness? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2008, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-dumb-to-breathe-let-alone-own-a-gun/442728/24 "2008-03-26T13:25:33Z")
[QUOTE=Mosier] Who’s first thought when confronted with a home improvement project that requires a tool they don’t own is “I’ll just use my pistol!” /boggle [/QUOTE] He must have misunderstood the common statement that guns are just a type of tool. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2008, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-dumb-to-breathe-let-alone-own-a-gun/442728/25 "2008-03-26T13:38:20Z")
As someone who has installed a dish without killing anyone, I would also point out that the hole does not go through the whole wall, you drill theough the outer siding and use anchor bolts. Was he planning to use bolts and nuts to anchor it to the inside of the house? I cannot fathom the depth of “Teh Stoopid” it takes to think this was a good idea even without killing his wife (or anyone else) in the process. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2008, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-dumb-to-breathe-let-alone-own-a-gun/442728/26 "2008-03-26T13:49:47Z")
[QUOTE=featherlou] “Joey: Oh! Sorry… did I get you? Chandler: NO, you didn’t Get me! It’s an electric drill! You Get me, you Kill me!” Is it wrong that this was the first thing I thought of when I read the OP? And yes, I know he shot her, not drilled her. Same principle, basically. [/QUOTE] Nah, I’m pretty sure she got drilled! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2008, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-dumb-to-breathe-let-alone-own-a-gun/442728/27 "2008-03-26T13:50:03Z")
I’m surprised that a .22 was able to punch through an exterior wall and a person. I thought those things were just slightly more powerful than a pellet gun. But yeah, no matter the caliber of the gun, that was just extremely stupid. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2008, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-dumb-to-breathe-let-alone-own-a-gun/442728/28 "2008-03-26T16:25:18Z")
[QUOTE=Wile E] I’m surprised that a .22 was able to punch through an exterior wall and a person. I thought those things were just slightly more powerful than a pellet gun. But yeah, no matter the caliber of the gun, that was just extremely stupid. [/QUOTE] It’s only a small powder charge in Hilti gun which drives a 2 1/2" carbide nail into concrete. Besides, .22 is the projectile size. The amount of propellant determines how powerfully the bullet is fired. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2008, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-dumb-to-breathe-let-alone-own-a-gun/442728/29 "2008-03-26T16:29:15Z")
Now see, isn’t there a type of gun control that could prevent something like this? Some sort of simple intelligence test? (Reminds me of that episode of _The Simpsons_, when Homer gets a gun.) ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2008, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-dumb-to-breathe-let-alone-own-a-gun/442728/30 "2008-03-26T16:33:11Z")
[QUOTE=Guinastasia] Now see, isn’t there a type of gun control that could prevent something like this? Some sort of simple intelligence test? (Reminds me of that episode of _The Simpsons_, when Homer gets a gun.) [/QUOTE] Not really. Passing a test while calm is no guarantee that a person won’t behave in a batshit crazy manner at some future juncture. Intelligence wise, someone could be as dumb as a box of rocks, yet still have respect for and obey rules regarding the safe handling of firearms. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2008, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-dumb-to-breathe-let-alone-own-a-gun/442728/31 "2008-03-26T17:17:42Z")
[QUOTE=Czarcasm] Thank ghod we prevented a _criminal_ from acquiring that weapon instead-someone might have gotten hurt! [/QUOTE] I don’t know any more than what it says on the news about this (and being local, it’s been on a lot), but this whole thing sounds fishy to me. Although a .22 handgun _can_ punch through a wall, it’s also a very low-powered round, which takes a really good shot to kill under the best circumstances, and after being slowed and deformed passing through a wall I wonder just how much energy and shape was left to penetrate deep into a body and actually kill someone. It’s not impossible, and I’m sure scads of people will line up to post their anecdotes about how they split the engine block of a 460 Ford with a .22, and yes people have died from even pellet guns. But I’ve shot tens, if not hundreds of thousands of .22 rounds, at every composition of common object imaginable (including through wall sections, shingles, gypsum wallboard, etc. at a tip), and based on that experience I put the odds of this being an accident as very low, and the odds of it being him getting mad and shooting at his wife, and trying to cover it up as an accident, to be somewhat higher. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2008, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-dumb-to-breathe-let-alone-own-a-gun/442728/32 "2008-03-26T17:40:49Z")
[QUOTE=danceswithcats] Not really. Passing a test while calm is no guarantee that a person won’t behave in a batshit crazy manner at some future juncture. Intelligence wise, someone could be as dumb as a box of rocks, yet still have respect for and obey rules regarding the safe handling of firearms. [/QUOTE] Damn. Although if you’re batshit, (certified, I mean), isn’t that grounds, IIRC? ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2008, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-dumb-to-breathe-let-alone-own-a-gun/442728/33 "2008-03-26T18:47:53Z")
[QUOTE=Malthus] Hey, it worked. Hole was made. 😉 [/QUOTE] Both in her and the wall ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2008, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-dumb-to-breathe-let-alone-own-a-gun/442728/34 "2008-03-26T19:15:01Z")
[QUOTE=Ale] Let me get this straight, the moron was shooting a hole from the inside out?, as in, bullets flying out in the street? He hit his wife, could had been a neighbour, the pizza boy, anyone walking past. [/QUOTE] Yeah…even if he was right that his whole family was inside the house, guess who would still have been outside the house, and thus, in theory, vulnerable? _Everyone else on earth._ Sailboat ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2008, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-dumb-to-breathe-let-alone-own-a-gun/442728/35 "2008-03-26T19:23:17Z")
[QUOTE=Guinastasia] Damn. Although if you’re batshit, (certified, I mean), isn’t that grounds, IIRC? [/QUOTE] IIRC, having been deemed mentally deficient by a court of law does disqualify one from firearm ownership. However, that relies on a system to verify the accuracy of checkboxes on a purchase form, and further assumes the purchase takes place at a retail weapons dealer. Private purchases in which paperwork isn’t filed, parties who share a dwelling with a legal firearms owner, and those whose mental condition deteriorates over time wouldn’t be addressed by such controls. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2008, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-dumb-to-breathe-let-alone-own-a-gun/442728/36 "2008-03-26T19:26:13Z")
[QUOTE=Sailboat] Yeah…even if he was right that his whole family was inside the house, guess who would still have been outside the house, and thus, in theory, vulnerable? _Everyone else on earth._ Sailboat [/QUOTE] Yes, everybody else on earth was outside, but only those in close proximity were endangered by his stupidity. He wasn’t presenting a danger to someone more than a mile or so away. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2008, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-dumb-to-breathe-let-alone-own-a-gun/442728/37 "2008-03-26T19:42:49Z")
[QUOTE=danceswithcats] Yes, everybody else on earth was outside, but only those in close proximity were endangered by his stupidity. He wasn’t presenting a danger to someone more than a mile or so away. [/QUOTE] I think it is safe to say that this guy poses a danger to the entire world. Even if that risk is only the risk of him reproducing. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2008, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-dumb-to-breathe-let-alone-own-a-gun/442728/38 "2008-03-26T22:11:28Z")
[QUOTE=Una Persson] I don’t know any more than what it says on the news about this (and being local, it’s been on a lot), but this whole thing sounds fishy to me. [/QUOTE] My immediate thoughts were identical to yours. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2008, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-dumb-to-breathe-let-alone-own-a-gun/442728/39 "2008-03-26T22:32:57Z")
[QUOTE=danceswithcats] IIRC, having been deemed mentally deficient by a court of law does disqualify one from firearm ownership. However, that relies on a system to verify the accuracy of checkboxes on a purchase form, and further assumes the purchase takes place at a retail weapons dealer. Private purchases in which paperwork isn’t filed, parties who share a dwelling with a legal firearms owner, and those whose mental condition deteriorates over time wouldn’t be addressed by such controls. [/QUOTE] You mean a straw purchase? I was thinking along the lines of John Hinkley Jr, or whoever. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2008, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-dumb-to-breathe-let-alone-own-a-gun/442728/40 "2008-03-27T00:35:39Z")
[QUOTE=Una Persson] \ I put the odds of this being an accident as very low, and the odds of it being him getting mad and shooting at his wife, and trying to cover it up as an accident, to be somewhat higher. [/QUOTE] That never even occurred to me. I hope the justice system where he lives is a lot more aware than I am (I just thought he was spectacularly stupid). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-dumb-to-breathe-let-alone-own-a-gun/442728.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-dumb-to-breathe-let-alone-own-a-gun/442728.md?page=3)