Even pellet guns can be deadly.

[andrewg]

Woman accused of shooting, killing boyfriend with pellet gun at Graham home

Deputies arrested a woman Wednesday who allegedly shot and killed her boyfriend with a pellet gun.

www.komonews.com

Somewhat surprising yet it can happen.

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

Oh goodness here comes the NICS check for pellet guns! We need to control those other assault weapons!

 

[Pablo]

Same gun safety rules were broken

 

[Furious]

.177 and .22 caliber pellet guns shooting 800+fps are used for hunting small to medium game all the time even dropping wild boar so I am not sure how it is surprising that it can kill a person.

They are absolutely not toys and need to be handled properly.

 

[Jdeere562]

I have an RWS model 48 that is quite powerful. Forget, maybe 1100 FPS?

It could possibly kill a person, if hit in the right spot. Not the pellet guns we grew up with 50 years ago as kids.

 

[KCJeep]

I accidentally shot myself in the foot once with a Daisy pump up pellet rifle as a teenager. The rifle was only on 3 (out of 10) pumps, and I was wearing reinforced rubber boots at the time. The pain and force was shocking. I was not injured but I definitely took note of it!

My buddy and I also did quite a bit of small game hunting with those. I would believe that could be lethal to a person if hit in the right spot.

 

[wavinwayne]

Same gun safety rules were broken

An argument could be made that she didn't point the gun at anything she didn't intend to destroy.

 

[Astro14]

What moron thought they were safe? I’m not surprised at all.

My daughter treated a boy who had been shot in the neck by a BB gun. He looked fine. Talked fine. No apparent problem. Folks wanted to move on to “higher priority cases.”

But she disagreed, because in the X-ray it was too close to his carotid. Turns out it had penetrated his carotid, and he was bleeding out internally, with no external signs.

So, yeah, they can kill. Maybe not instantly, but they are far from harmless.

What idiot points a weapon at another human being and thinks that the weapon won’t harm them?

 

[4WD]

I have an RWS model 48 that is quite powerful. Forget, maybe 1100 FPS?

It could possibly kill a person, if hit in the right spot. Not the pellet guns we grew up with 50 years ago as kids.

My Gamo is up to 1300 fps - they put silencers on these …
They sound like .22LR otherwise …

 

[Oillover]

They certainly can be lethal.

I was shot by my older brother in the late 80's with a pellet gun.
He thought the safety was on, but it wasn't and he aimed for my head/face and shot me.
Luckily, I turned my head just in time for the pellet to travel thru my ear and lodge into the drywall behind me.
Had I turned my head a few more degrees, that pellet would have ended up in the cerebellum area of my brain.

true story

EDIT: thank you for the concern folks, but my brother has passed away several years ago. I reckon that makes us square.

 

[Zee09]

Pellet guns have been killing people for centuries. Nothing new.
They were once used in war and known as silent killers. If you were caught with one you were executed.

Even a BB gun can kill..

 

[GMBoy]

Same gun safety rules were broken

Agree. Gun safety starts between the ears.

 

[DriveHard]

My wife falls into that catagory...

I got a nice pellet gun to keep the squirrels off the bird feeders when we lived out in the country. They would literally destroy the feeders so they were unusable. Well, the first time I shot a squirrel off the feeder, it just dropped dead to the ground...like I wanted. My wife let out a gasp, and exclaimed "It's just a pellet gun, I thought it was for scaring the squirrels"

...I can assure you he was incapable of being scared at that point.
Here is what I got.

Amazon.com

 

[Pablo]

An argument could be made that she didn't point the gun at anything she didn't intend to destroy.

I guess that is where the DA is coming from. I really don't know the facts in this case. The press is more wrong than right in anything I know about so.....when reading this garbley mess..........who knows!!

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

I have an RWS model 48 that is quite powerful. Forget, maybe 1100 FPS?

It could possibly kill a person, if hit in the right spot. Not the pellet guns we grew up with 50 years ago as kids.

You have a great one I have one just like it. Amazed at its accuracy!

 

[Jetronic]

There was a guy on Youtube shooting at pig heads with a .177 pellet gun a few years ago. Trust me, they penetrated the skulls a few inches on a full grown hog from FAR AWAY. Pretty certain they have stronger skulls than people too. When shooting at smaller pig heads, the pellet bounced around in the head some.

It's no joke, you can kill quite a bit with good shot placement. Or bad practices...

 

[Zee09]

I think this 8 1/2 pound pellet could put a hurting on you eh?

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

My Gamo is up to 1300 fps - they put silencers on these …
They sound like .22LR otherwise …

Most .22LR are in the 1000-1280fps range, so on pure speed they’re in the ballpark. Plenty of deaths have occurred from a silenced .22 to the skull… so sure, a .22 pellet with decent placement is definitely deadly.

 

[PontiacHO]

.177 and .22 caliber pellet guns shooting 800+fps are used for hunting small to medium game all the time even dropping wild boar so I am not sure how it is surprising that it can kill a person.

They are absolutely not toys and need to be handled properly.

Wild boar! You must have an entirely different animal called a wild boar than the ones in North Carolina. Most guys I know wouldn’t squeeze off a .22 rifle at one here. It would just make it mad enough to get you.

 

[Zee09]

I have an RWS model 48 that is quite powerful. Forget, maybe 1100 FPS?

It could possibly kill a person, if hit in the right spot. Not the pellet guns we grew up with 50 years ago as kids.

In the mid 80s I was converting them (48-52 Dianas) to 30 caliber and making new internals to boost them to 30 ft lbs. I called them 30/30 carbines which were retailed by Harry Steiber in WPB Florida
( Pelaire Products)

I also did the Weihrauch 80 as well.