{"id":6127,"date":"2016-10-18T11:14:00","date_gmt":"2016-10-18T11:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2016\/10\/18\/russian-roulette-with-a-semi-automatic-pistol\/"},"modified":"2016-10-18T11:14:00","modified_gmt":"2016-10-18T11:14:00","slug":"russian-roulette-with-a-semi-automatic-pistol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2016\/10\/18\/russian-roulette-with-a-semi-automatic-pistol\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian Roulette With a Semi-Automatic Pistol"},"content":{"rendered":"

This seems to be becoming an Internet meme.  It comes with the implication that certain death will be the result. (See graphic below.) Let's think about this, just for fun.<\/span><\/p>\n

Strictly speaking, one can play Russian Roulette only with a revolver.  But surely something analogous to Russian Roulette can be played with a semi-automatic pistol with a non-zero probability of surviving.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here is one way.  Have 'a friend' load the magazine randomly with live and dummy rounds.  Insert the magazine and rack the slide, thereby chambering a round.  Point the gun at your head and press the trigger.  If you hear a click, then the hammer fell on a dummy round. Congratulations! You are not dead.  Care to press your luck?  Then press the trigger a second time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here is a second way.  Pick up a semi-auto pistol and remove the magazine.  Point at head, pull trigger.  If there is a live round in the chamber, you're a goner.  A dummy round or nothing in the chamber and you survive to be a fool another day.  Unlike Terry Kath<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Remember him? He was the blazingly fast guitarist for the band Chicago<\/em>.   In 1978, while drunk, he shot himself in the head with an 'unloaded' gun.  At first he had been fooling with a .38 revolver.  Then he picked up a semi-automatic 9 mm pistol, removed the magazine, pointed it at his head, spoke his last words, "Don't worry, it isn't loaded," and pulled the trigger.  Unfortunately for his head, there was a round in the chamber.  Or that is one way the story goes. <\/span><\/p>\n

Such inadvertent exits are easily avoided by exceptionless observation of three rules:  Never point a gun at something you do not want to destroy.  Treat every gun as if   loaded, whether loaded or not.  Never mix alcohol and gunpowder.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps I should add a fourth: Never mix dummy rounds with live rounds. Variant<\/em>: Dummies should stay clear of guns, loaded or unloaded, and ammo, live or dummy. <\/span><\/p>\n

Uncle Bill has a fifth rule for you:  Never try to cure someone's hiccups by pointing a gun at him or her.  A Fort Hood soldier availed himself of this method<\/a> to cure a fellow soldier's hiccups, but ended up 'curing' him of life itself.  (A cock to Asclepius!)  The soldier, who was drunk at the time, said he thought the gun was loaded with dummy rounds.  And now for the graphic, from Diana West<\/a> via Bill Keezer.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"West<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This seems to be becoming an Internet meme.  It comes with the implication that certain death will be the result. (See graphic below.) Let's think about this, just for fun. Strictly speaking, one can play Russian Roulette only with a revolver.  But surely something analogous to Russian Roulette can be played with a semi-automatic pistol … Continue reading “Russian Roulette With a Semi-Automatic Pistol”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[112,71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alcohol-tobacco-and-firearms","category-varia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6127\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}