Assault Weapon Research Articles

Descended From Dan'l, Davy, and the Devil Himself

Descended From Dan'l, Davy, and the Devil Himself Garry Barker The older I get, the more I begin to understand about myself and the men who came before me, the storied "Kentucky mountain men" who surely must be descended from Dan'l, Davy, and the Devil himself. The popular image of us ranges from the bearded, barefooted, rifle-and-jug-toting hillbilly to the stubborn, courageous frontiersman, with Boss Hogg, Jed Clampett, and Little Abner tossed in to muddle the waters. We are labeled as quaint, quare, violent, independent, incestuous, and a bit of every other quality ever exhibited by any male mountain resident, a lanky legion of cockfighting, whiskey-drinking sharpshooters, storytellers and balladeers, brawlers who are handy during wartime but troublesome when there's no common enemy to kill. Fess Parker and John Wayne swaggered across the TV and movie screens portraying the silver-tongued Tennessee and Kentucky backwoodsmen, but movies such as Deliverance brought about an uglier image. There's likely a tad of truth in all the popular stereotypes, but over the past decade or so I've become even more aware of the traits either born or trained early into me that have outlasted all the more subtle contemporary influences. Like Daniel Boone, I have to have elbow room. A neighbor's chimney smoke won't send me off in search of a less populated wilderness, but I have to be left alone for a goodly portion of the time. Boone never admitted to being lost, as he traveled uncharted wilderness, though he did confess to be "bewildered" for up to three days running, more than once. Me too. My own bewilderment is more likely to commence in a crowded city than in the Kentucky hills, and I'm most bewildered when I'm supposed to mingle with a bunch of people I don't even know. Garry Barker is director of the Appalachian Arts and Crafts Center at Morehead State University (Kentucky). He is afreelance writer ofbothfiction and nonfiction. 25 Maybe Boone also set the tone for our lifelong affinity with the rifle, though "Old Betsy" was replaced a hundred years or so ago by the Winchester .30-.3O and the .22 varmint rifle and the modern assault weapon; in recent years the muzzle loader has made a sizable comeback. I personally cannot "bark" a squirrel, but for some reason would feel as naked as old Dan'l would if I didn't keep a rifle handy. Like Davy Crockett, I love to tell a good tale, and when doing so I do not feel at all constrained by the truth. Davy invented the backwoods persona so essential over the decades to our politicians, humorists, columnists, and store-porch philosophers, the "good old boy" approach that conceals wisdom in the guise of helplessness that deliberately misleads and takes advantage of the outsider who has assumed that he mountaineer is sadly lacking in intelligence. From both Daniel and Davy come the stubborn independence, the fierce loyalty, the daring, the fighting spirit that manifests itself in so many ways. Maybe from the Devil himself comes the taste for strong whiskey, homemade or store-bought, and the sullen, almost savage black mood swings too common for too many of us, the trait that can sometimes combine with the strong drink to manufacture mayhem. Or more. After fifty-five years, many of them spent away from the real mountains, I realize every day that I'm getting more and more like what I really am and less and less what the world told me I ought to be. Maybe moving back so close to my Elliott County roots has accelerated the reversal process, gradually peeling away the layers of "civilized" veneers, bringing back what's always been there at the core. I'd rather be around my own kind, those who were born poor and came up hard, who know what it's like to use an outhouse, butcher a hog, farm, timber, tinker with old cars and trucks, shoot, laugh, and love the rugged old hills from whence we spring. I need dogs, pickup trucks, firearms, and some space, country music, and food you can taste...

Assault Weapons as a Public Health Hazard-Reply

In Reply. —While we certainly appreciate the views of Drs Noel, Di Maio, and Belding concerning the American Medical Association Council on Scientific Affairs Report, Assault Weapons as a Public Health Hazard in the United States, we believe a statement from the California Attorney General's Office quoted in the article bears repeating: The danger of the semiautomatic assault weapon is not yet the frequency with which it is used in crime or the volume which exist compared to other types of guns. Rather the danger is the potential each semiautomatic weapon confers upon an individual to kill and wound a large number of people. 1

Assault Weapons as a Public Health Hazard

To the Editor. —The Council Report entitled Assault Weapons as a Public Health Hazard in the United States is seriously enough flawed as to render any of its conclusions questionable. 1 The problems with the article are that the authors do not know what an is; they are unfamiliar with its wounding characteristics and they misinterpret their statistical data. Thus, in their definition of what constitutes an assault rifle, they omit one of the most important characteristics, as defined by firearms experts, that these weapons are intended to fire ammunition intermediate in power between traditional rifle ammunition and pistol ammunition. Then, there is the statement that rifles are meant to be spray-fired from the hip. This looks good in the movies, but is not what a rifle is designed for. Reference is made to the Uzi implying that it is an assault weapon. The Uzi fires pistol

Distinctive Blunt Force Injuries Caused by a Crescent Wrench

Prompt recognition of patterned injuries by the forensic pathologist can greatly facilitate the investigation and resolution of injury and death cases. Careful observation and description of injuries may provide identification of an assault or murder weapon and contribute to the reconstruction of circumstances of injury. The two cases herein described manifest unusual and distinctive injuries resulting from multiple impacts by adjustable crescent wrenches. Detailed photographs and descriptions of these injuries are provided.

Recovery and Evaluation of Trace Material from Wound Edges in Traumatic Injury Site

A small wound found on the ear of a homicide victim was inflicted by either a knife or a sharp fragment of ceramic. To test the potential usefulness of cytologic examination of wound edges for fragments of inert material from the assault weapon, the wound was rinsed and cytologic filters were prepared from the retained rinsing material. The particulate matter present on filters included microscopic fragments of crockery admixed with blood and other tissue components. This observation supported other physical evidence that the wound was caused by the sharp edge of a ceramic crock rather than by the knife. This case demonstrates the potential usefulness of cytologic examination of wound edges.