Some people consider air rifles to be toys used mostly by children, but have you ever wondered, can air rifles be lethal? Yes, air rifles can absolutely be lethal! Air rifles should not be treated as toys, but treated with the same respect as powder burning firearms. In fact, many municipalities have laws to regulate air guns because of how lethal they can be.
How Much Power Does An Air Gun Need To Be Lethal?
According to a 1960’s study, the United States Army determined 58 foot pounds of energy was needed for a projectile to be considered lethal. Most air rifles that are readily available in a typical department store average around 10 to 20 foot pounds of energy, well below the U.S. Army’s figure, but that does not mean they still are not lethal.
A pellet from an air rifle carrying 12.19 foot pound of energy has enough energy to be fatal in certain anatomical locations. These locations include the eyes, neck, chest abdomen or thorax. Depending on the type of pellet used, from a distance of 65 feet, an air rifle with 12.19 foot pounds of energy at the barrel is capable of 3.7” of penetration in ballistic gelatin, which is plenty deep enough to cause serious bodily injury.
How Common Are Air Rifle Fatalities?
While air rifle fatalities are rare, they happen more often than most people realize. Between 1982 to 1996 there were 33 air rifle related deaths in the United States alone. Between 1990 to 2000 there were 39 air rifle related deaths in the United States. Of the 39 fatalities, 32 of them were children under the age of 15.
Of the fatalities recorded from 1990-2000, a majority of them were to the head, mainly through the eyes, nose, ear or temple areas were the bone is the thinnest. Of the recorded air rifle accidents, shots to the head carried the highest mortality rate. Penetrating wounds from an air rifle to the chest and abdomen were the second leading cause of death. Air rifle wounds to the chest and abdomen typically involved damage of the myocardium, aorta, or pulmonary vessels leading to cardiac tamponade or hemothorax.
Air Rifles Are Fatal For Adults Too
Despite most fatalities coming from accidents involving children, air rifles are also fatal for full grown adults. Below is a case study involving a homicide in which the murder weapon was an air rifle.
Case Study – Fatality Involving An Air Rifle
Medics arrive on the scene to find a man laying on the sidewalk for an unknown period of time. The man was 5’9” and weighed 174 pounds. Medics rushed the man to the nearby hospital were he was later pronounced dead.
Upon further inspection, it was determined that the man had a small hole in the left middle line of his chest. Forensic pathologist were able to determine that a .177 pointed nose diablo pellet had struck the man in chest and pierced his heart and lung.
Police were able to locate the air rifle used in the homicide shooting and determined it was a Gamo Big Cat 1200 air rifle capable of producing 14.71 foot pounds of energy and pellet velocities up to 1200 feet per second.
