Gun folks, a question:

[Robb]

No, it's not a snarky thing, although you would be right to expect it.

It looks like this fellow hit 31 people with two handguns before getting shot. Is this even remotely possible?

Caveat: I've never fired anything that wasn't propelled by air.

[Common Sense Party]

1. Depends on how close together the targets were, and on whether or not

he was receiving fire.

How many did the Columbine shits shoot before they stopped?

[NutmegYankee]

2. Absolutely. A trained shooter can quickly reload.

14 rounds or so per clip on average depending on make and model.

[geckosfeet]

12. If he had 1911 style .45 he probably had 8 rounds per clip.

[Ernesto]

15. obsolete....

I have one from Vietnam

[Posteritatis]

16. The army doesn't use those anymore. (nt)

[tridim]

3. I'm not sure we should assume 31 were "shot"

Or that all the victims were shot by the gunman's weapon.

[Robb]

4. Good point. "31 wounded" could mean a lot, I suppose. nt

[tridim]

7. Lots of return crossfire too. They thought there were multiple shooters.

What a clusterfuck.

This may turn out to be a lesson about what can happen when lots of people are armed in one place.

[X_Digger]

9. Thing is, there weren't 'lots of people armed in one place'..

Very few arms available to the average person on base, at least those with ammunition. Why do you think local law enforcement raced into the base? If there were lots of armed people there, what good would Kileen SWAT be?

[Mosby]

5. I bet he was using non-nato ammo

steel jacketed hollow-point.

That's how you end up with so many fatalities.

[kenny blankenship]

6. He didn't even get close to the record set by the VA Tech shooter- also a 2 handgun attack

The Virginia Tech massacre was a school shooting that took place April 16, 2007 on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States. In two separate attacks, approximately two hours apart, the perpetrator, Seung-Hui Cho, killed 32 people and wounded many others <1> before committing suicide. The massacre is the deadliest peacetime shooting incident by a single gunman in United States history, on or off a school campus.<2>

Cho used two firearms during the attacks: a .22-caliber Walther P22 semi-automatic handgun and a 9 mm semi-automatic Glock 19 handgun.<9> The shootings occurred in separate incidents, with the first at West Ambler Johnston Hall and the second at Norris Hall.


from wikipedia

So YES it is possible. Today was a Big Day for handguns, but not a record.

[X_Digger]

8. Also depends on how crowded the place was..

.. if there were choke points where everyone fleeing had to pass through.

Wouldn't surprise me though if he fired two shots for every one that hit someone.

[Duckhunter935]

10. Normallly not armed police at the SRP

Few minutes to respond, I woud have thought the soldiers could have subdued him. Could have been more than 150 in the building for processing.

[dschis]

13. I'm thinking sleeper

Hate to, but Army doctors aren't trained with handguns like that. There's more to this....

[TheWraith]

11. Possible? Certainly.

I'm willing to bet the weapons were Beretta 92F pistols, known in the US military as the M9. They have a 15 round standard magazine. Times two pistols, and if you have one replacement magazine for each, that's 60 rounds that you have. Firing at relatively short ranges, 43 hits out of 60 rounds isn't unreasonable, particularly when only 12 of them were lethal. Speed isn't worth as much in terms of shot placement as you'd think--most mass killings are done with slow, precise fire. Add to that the fact that military personnel within a base only carry a weapon if their duties require it--it's not like a war zone, where everyone is constantly armed.

Edited to add--43 killed or wounded doesn't even necessarily mean 43 rounds on target. There's always the possibility of "through and through" shots, where the bullet goes completely through a person and possibly hits someone else.

[X_Digger]

14. Or even broken legs / arms..

.. from people being trampled, diving for cover, etc.

[slackmaster]

17. A trained soldier in a crowded area with few if any armed security people

Sure it's possible. Consider that some of the wounded and dead may have been hit by ricochet or bullets that had already penetrated another person.

[backwoodsbob]

18. yes it's possible