ShockedNKansas wrote:There's been a lot of talk in the hearing about the victim's autopsy reports. This is going to sound sick but... is there a way for us to see them? Perhaps via the Freedom of Information Act?
While it's morbid to glean data from the autopsies of the victims of a psychotic murderer, it
is hard data concerning the performance of the 5.7x28mm round.
- Hasan scored 18 torso or head hits. 13 died, 5 survived.
- 28 victims were hit in non-vital areas or limbs. All survived.
- Hasan was charged by four people. 1 survived. None were successful in reaching him.
- The SS197 round shattered a femur, making it impossible for Officer Munley to continue to engage her target.
- Hasan, who was clearly suicidal, was finally stopped by four 9mm rounds. He (unfortunately) survived as a paraplegic.
There are plenty of debates regarding the Five-seveN as a "viable" personal defense handgun. By personal defense, what we really mean is how effective is the weapon against human targets. Since the public does not have ready access to anti-personnel performance of the Five-seveN by the Secret Service or other government/LE agencies, the Fort Hood massacre is really the only source of data available. And it answers many questions that ballistic gel cannot and really should put the argument to rest.
- As expected, shot placement matters. This implies that a firearm that is easier to shoot on target will be more deadly than one that is difficult to control, REGARDLESS of caliber.
- Any bullet that can shatter a bone will stop an attacker. In the oft-repeated hypothetical scenario of a drugged and unstoppable assailant high on PCP or some other anesthetizing drug, even if he cannot feel pain, he cannot continue to charge with a shattered leg.
- The Fort Hood incident is notable in that four individuals charged the shooter, and all were stopped before they could reach him. For stopping power, the Five-seveN was 100% effective. And if anyone were to argue that those attempting to stop and disarm Hasan were sober, I submit that a US Army soldier, motivated to save the lives of others without regard to personal safety and acting on that motivation, is as physically difficult to stop as any human may be.
Stopping power is often equated with a round's ability to instantaneously kill a human. Stopping power in reality is the ability of a round to stop a human from attacking, and lethality is not inherently a part of stopping an attack. I selected the Five-seveN after becoming convinced from available data (most notably the above massacre) that the 5.7x28 round is at least as effective as a 9mm (and probably more so) and noting that it is easier to put rounds quickly on target with the 5.7x28 than any other available pistol round with the exception of subsonic match grade .22LR. It is very tragic that a psychotic employed a weapon as lethal as the Five-seveN to commit such an atrocity. And it leaves no question as to the lethality or stopping power of the Five-seveN.
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