Like a lot of people I have marveled at how the Americans treasure their guns so dearly. I remember once watching some sort of TV show of 'remarkable survival stories' where a man is trying to duck back and forth around a rather slender tree while a guy empties a clip from a 9mm handgun in to him. The guy got shot several times and was very fortunate to survive. Or so I thought.
Movies have trained us to expect people to die straight away when winged by a bullet from a handgun. In fact, 6/7 people in the states shot with a handgun don't die.
The physics of bullets hitting people (though extremely disturbing) is quite fascinating. Just recently I was talking to people about bullets hitting water, and how far you have to dive in order to be protected.
It turns out that the super fast bullets tend to destroy themselves, breaking in to shrapnel when they hit water, whereas the slower bullets will actually go a bit further. Interestingly, it seems the same seems to be true for people getting shot.
I recommend this Youtube video by an American anesthesiologist if you'd like to hear more about it. It's probably useful information if you plan on dealign with people who have been shot.
On a related note, I've been thinking about 4th year electives. I'd really like to go somewhere in Africa, but probably not South Africa (everybody goes there.) Might see some of this stuff, not that I see myself as a trauma junkie in any way at all.
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