Dum Dum Bullets

PSH from UK newspapers:

18.20 The chief surgeon at a hospital treating Norway's victims said the killed used special 'dum-dum' bullets designed to disintegrate inside the body and cause maximum internal damage.

Dr Colin Poole, head of surgery at Rinriket Hospital in Honefoss, northwest of Oslo, said surgeons treating 16 gunshot victims have recovered no full bullets.

These Bullets more or less exploded inside the body... These bullets inflicted internal damage that's absolutely horrible.

You mean, the bad guy used evil bullets, just like the ones that the London police department uses? This seems like the same deal as semiauto rifle nomenclature: if the cops have them, they're patrol rifles or "expanding ammunition that prevents injury to bystanders and enhances officer safety." If civilians have them, then they are "assault weapons" and "dum dum death bullets."

As far as JHP "exploding..." Well, I'm pretty sure that there's no explosive charge inside a JHP round. I'm pretty sure that they typically expand to maybe 2x their starting size. In fact, people shot with JHP may be less likely to die because they typically get shot twice before they stop instead of a half dozen times or more with ineffective FMJ, so they have a lot fewer holes in them.

I think the investigation in Norway will find that there were so many deaths vice injuries because the perp was coup de gracing victims with a shotgun. Generally the probability of survival when you get shot in the cranium at point blank range with a twelve gauge is relatively poor.

The whole thing is a tragedy, but blaming it on a specific type of ammunition -- ammo which is greatly preferred by LEOs everywhere if they can get it, in fact -- kind of misses the point. Expanding bullets are mandatory for hunting in many countries, probably including Norway.

Heck, the same British newspaper even ran an article pointing out that Norway's tough gun laws were easily circumvented, then wrapped up by saying that the Scandinavian countries are fast forwarding tougher gun laws. The blood dancing has begun before the victims are even cold and the shock can wear off.

This whole tragedy highlights so many things that many of us know. When seconds count, the policy are minutes (or hours, for rural and remote properties) away. Running and hiding against an active shooter isn't always the best plan. Gun control generally doesn't terribly affect people bent on mayhem. Right now the best thing is to have thoughts and prayers for the victims and their families, but also to start to think about lessons learned to keep this sort of thing from happening locally.