Ugh, more bad press "potato gun" kills 21 year old

paaiyan · Tue Sep 04, 2007 8:50 am

joannaardway wrote:Never has the statement:
"Knowledge is a dangerous thing, but ignorance is fatal." been more appropriate.

I do believe joanna hit the nail on the head with that one.

Tweetybird · Tue Sep 04, 2007 8:56 am

It just goes to show that the old addage is wrong whent it says "Guns kill people." People kill people! In this case...he killed himself as well. This should not be an "Accident." It should be 3rd Degree Murder. If you were stupid and got behind a wheel of a car that is what they would say. Why is this any different?

Also, This was not a spud gun. This was a cannon based on the ambiguous description mentioned by the media. "Powder?"

This is a classic case of similar terms being abused!

paaiyan · Tue Sep 04, 2007 9:01 am

Tweetybird wrote:It just goes to show that the old addage is wrong whent it says "Guns kill people." People kill people! In this case...he killed himself as well. This should not be an "Accident." It should be 3rd Degree Murder. If you were stupid and got behind a wheel of a car that is what they would say. Why is this any different?

Um, because you can't really murder yourself...

jackssmirkingrevenge · Tue Sep 04, 2007 9:08 am

At least not everyone buys the media spin, have a look at this blog entry:

http://massbackwards.blogspot.com/2007/ ... o-gun.html

paaiyan · Tue Sep 04, 2007 9:19 am

Awesome, someone isn't an idiot. This may sound really heartless, but I wonder how far the projectile went.

spud yeti · Tue Sep 04, 2007 9:25 am

Um, because you can't really murder yourself...

"-cide" means murder, for example fratracide: the killing of a father. Therefore suicide: "sui-" meaning self, and "-cide" meaning murder, gives you "self murder". The definition of murder is the unlawful taking of a human life, and suicide is illegal. Therefore you can murder yourself, its just commonly known as suicide.

paaiyan · Tue Sep 04, 2007 9:28 am

spud yeti wrote:
Um, because you can't really murder yourself...
"-cide" means murder, for example fratracide: the killing of a father. Therefore suicide: "sui-" meaning self, and "-cide" meaning murder, gives you "self murder". The definition of murder is the unlawful taking of a human life, and suicide is illegal. Therefore you can murder yourself, its just commonly known as suicide.

*sigh* Let me rephrase that. In the eyes of the justice system, you can't murder yourself.

spud yeti · Tue Sep 04, 2007 9:58 am

What is suicide then?
I see what you're trying to say though.

paaiyan · Tue Sep 04, 2007 10:07 am

Today John Smith was sentenced to die by lethal injection for first degree murder. The victim, himself. One family member was quoted as saying, "I'm glad that sick bastard got the death penalty for what he did to my cousin. John was a good good man and didn't deserve to have his life ended like that." The possibility of an appeal has been denied and the execution date has been set for February 31st of 2008.

EDIT: Dictionary definition of murder. <i>Law. the killing of another human being under conditions specifically covered in law.</i>

Pilgrimman · Tue Sep 04, 2007 3:29 pm

Slightly off topic, but whatever...

I'm writing an e-mail to this station, and I need to know: what is the peak pressure that can be reached by a combustion if the projectile doesn't move, and MAPP or similar is used? In other words, worst case scenario. Thanks!

Edit: Forget it, I changed the e-mail.

Check out my YouTube SpudGun Channel! · Tue Sep 04, 2007 3:43 pm

Pilgrimman wrote:Slightly off topic, but whatever...

I'm writing an e-mail to this station, and I need to know: what is the peak pressure that can be reached by a combustion if the projectile doesn't move, and MAPP or similar is used? In other words, worst case scenario. Thanks!

Well it depends, if you pour wax done your barrel and let it dry, it probably wont move and your gun may explode if its made from DWV.

"success is not final, failure is not fatal, it' the courage to continue that counts."

Well in this case, failure of the PVC pipe was fatal, and I doubt he will be continuing anytime soon.

jackssmirkingrevenge · Tue Sep 04, 2007 3:50 pm

More opinion here and here

Clearly there are a lot of people aware of how foolish it is to load a homemade spudgun with anything other than combustible gasses but there's also a lot of misinformation and irresponsibility out there

jimmy101 · Tue Sep 04, 2007 4:31 pm

Jacksr:

Amazing, not only the amount of wrong information but the complete lack of anything that is even remotely correct!

Not a single post on pressure rated PVC, lots of posts about how plastic pipe isn't rated.

Not a single post comparing the amount of energy in even a small amount of gunpowder compared to the amount of energy in a combustable mix of propane and air.

I only feel sorry for the kid and his family a little. About the same as I usually feel when a drunk kills himself in a car accident.

Tweetybird · Tue Sep 04, 2007 4:57 pm

"Once again, Ryan Meerdink's family members hope people will learn from their son's accident and that it will keep future incidents from happening"

This line should read, Once again, Ryan Meerdink's family members hope that stupid people will learn not to be around, near, think about doing, nor try something that requires brain activity, research, and a basic know how unless completed the required courses for graduating a Special Ed School for the STUPID and have adult supervision!

PinHead · Tue Sep 04, 2007 5:24 pm

The powder that he used was unlikely to be firecracker powder or anything like that; most likely it was some form of smokeless powder. The article states that he was an outdoorsman type, so there's a good chance that he either used powder for a muzzle-loading rifle, or else powder for reloading shotgun shells. Both are fairly easy and legal to come by here. We have seasons for deer for both muzzleloading rifles and shotguns with slugs.

Ugh, more bad press "potato gun" kills 21 year old

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