You see similar headlines like that, outta Chicago for the last few years. Maybe not a 20:1 ratio, but definitely a bias toward WIA vis KIA.
Criminals are shooting people, but not fatally.
I am almost certain it was always thus. If they highlighted it in DC papers in 1991, the ratio would be similar, I'm saying. I don't know, and the papers didn't word it the same, but it's the way to bet.
Bad guys, using pistols, hopped up on panicky adrenalin, with insufficient marksmanship training and practice, yielding more survivors, all while conducting street level pharmacological services outside the law.
Why do WE care, in the legitimate firearm community? Well, it's something to remember when CCWing. If you have to use your pistol, the person trying to rob you might not fall down and close his eyes at the outset of the first exchange. I mean, it's not like your purpose is to kill the threat, it's to stop the theat. Those 20 shot, 1 fatally in Chicago might have been out of the fight or an innocent bystander might have caught a stray round, so unless it was 20 assassination attempts, those 20 beefs might have been resolved to the shooters satisfaction. The news articles don't go into that. It's not an after action report of much value, from that angle.
And it is probably too much to ask for the Chicago Tribune to inquire and report such details. Like they are even fully knowable.
Remember, the medical folks have gotten better over the years. The 20:1 ratio is mostly because the doctors are able to do more to save people.
ReplyDeleteIIRC, medical staff from the military got to Chicago hospitals to learn how to treat gunshot wounds.