A black hole is a celestial body so named because its force of gravity is such that not even light can escape. Science fiction authors have depicted such weird phenomena as portals to strange dimensions or wormholes leading Lord-knows-where. Astronomers recognize such stuff because, when juxtaposed against the inky deadness of space, a black hole is a special kind of dark. Down here on earth, gunshot wounds are a comparably special kind of dark. When studied up close, a gunshot wound can offer a glimpse into a bad man’s soul.

The man walked in to the inner city ER where I toiled with his injured girlfriend in tow. He was distraught, affectionate and hovering. She was shot through the head but conscious.

It never seems to be quite like the movies. In this case, this otherwise-healthy 20-something young woman had been shot in the left temple with a small-caliber handgun. Her left eye protruded grotesquely, but she still walked into the Emergency Department under her own power and remained an engaging conversationalist. I naturally inquired regarding the details.

Her boyfriend carried a gun every day. So do I. Down here in the Deep South, that’s not terribly unusual. She said when he got home from work or whatever it was he did, he removed the weapon and placed it gently on the dresser. The gun inexplicably went off and accidentally struck her as she stood across the room. He helpfully added that he planned on securing a lawyer once the dust settled to investigate the gun maker’s liability for offering such a defective product. They were both in complete agreement concerning the details.

Gunshot wounds tell stories. Pistols typically punch orderly little holes and often do not produce exit wounds. High velocity rifles can create sufficient overpressure as to precipitate veritably explosive downrange effects. At close range, a 12-bore charged with most anything will make a thug look like God worked him over with a big honking ice cream scoop. In this case, the area around the entrance wound was neither clean nor tidy. The edges were torn, and the surrounding skin was stippled with flecks of unburned gunpowder.

The story this wound told was unambiguous. The happy couple had gotten sideways over something. Then our hero pushed his gat up against this young lady’s head and squeezed the trigger. Nothing else makes a wound like that.

We separated the two under some pretense, and I explained my observations to the injured woman. I assured her that I could keep her safe, but that she needed to tell me the truth. She would hear none of it. He loved her and would never intentionally harm her. The cops had a similar conversation with the poor lass as well and got the same answer. Without a witness willing to testify, their hands were tied.

The 95-grain FMJ bullet had transected the woman’s left optic nerve, rendering her irrevocably blind on that side. It then transited her sinuses and ended up lodged behind her right rearmost upper molar. We consulted the maxillofacial surgeon who numbed everything up and popped the slug out without further drama. Easy peazy.

The woman spent but a single night in the hospital. The following day the battered couple left in each other’s arms with a prescription for some antibiotics and a little pain medication. I never saw either of them again. It seems the bonds of love really are as strong as the poets opine.

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45 COMMENTS

  1. Nothing in that narrative surprised me. If I had caught that call I would have gotten witness statements from all concerned, medical records (if released by the patient), wrote a report and kicked it upstairs.

  2. And it’s everyone else’s fault that woman is in a shitty relationship with a shitty guy so we need mandatory storage laws that this shitty guy wouldn’t follow, mandatory training that this shitty guy would attend and a barrage of “don’t be shitty” virtue signalling messaging from all directions that this shitty guy will never notice or care about because I’m sure this shitty guy has no clue he’s shitty and weekend after weekend the local PD can visit this shitty couples home and accomplish fuck-all until one day they’re there to collect her corpse and it’ll be everyone else’s fault.

    • True.

      It’s also technically possible she shot herself, and he is covering for her.

      But that is still a great reason to disarm America, right? (/s)

  3. How about cutting the chatter and put the poor girl’s eyeball back in place first? My sister worked for a maxillofacial surgeon a damned good one he was. The worst one I heard of was a failed suicide attempt where the individual placed a shotgun under his chin it slipped and blew his face clean off, he lived.
    Their story I do not buy and they would never win a suit against the gun maker, too much loose end evidence against the lovebirds.

    • “How about cutting the chatter and put the poor girl’s eyeball back in place first?”

      Because you weren’t in that ER and doctors aren’t miracle workers, that’s why.

      You would seriously entertain the idea that eye that is far too damaged to be repaired be stuffed back into its eye socket and turn gangrenous?

      WTF is wrong with you? 🙁

    • I saw a young man who, distraught over a failed relationship , did the same in the middle of the road one night. He survived, wore a veil the rest of his life.

  4. When the article started “a black hole is,” I thought it was going to be about the Obamas.
    Silly me.😂

        • The Obamas are living their best life, you on the other hand, are an angry old man ranting on the Internet anonymously.

        • Yes, their best life. You celebrate them. They’re living like kings, privately jetting back and forth to their various mansions, including multiple coastal properties, because they’re obviously concerned about using too much CO2, and the sea level rising to dangerous levels. They’re laughing at the sheep who are willing to live up to standards the Obamas wouldn’t dream of living up to themselves.

          They could use their newfound wealth to help Chicago, since Barack lived there. But what fun would that be? They’d rather profit from other people’s misery.

        • “They could use their newfound wealth to help Chicago“

          Do you really think they don’t help Chicago, are you just being deceptive in attempt to prove your narrative?

          Here again, 10 seconds with Google would show you the Obamas have raised over $1 billion to help Chicago, Illinois and other low income areas.

          “The foundation reported spending $59.7 million last year — of that, $24 million went to programming in service of the foundation’s mission “to inspire, empower and connect people to change their world.”

          Among the foundation’s training programs for the next generation of civic leaders: the Obama Scholars program, which covers living and tuition costs for qualified students from University of Chicago, where Obama taught, and Columbia University in New York City, where Obama graduated from college.

          The two-year unpaid Obama Foundation Fellowship offers training, coaching and mentorship for groups of “civic innovators” from around the world. The Obama Foundation Leaders program — active in Africa, the Asia-Pacific and Europe — offers a six-month, nonresidential leadership development program that seeks to build “a community of changemakers from across the globe.” Obama’s father was Kenyan and the former president lived in the Asia-Pacific region as a youth.

          The foundation also pays out grants to community organizations, including locals like Thrive Chicago and the Gary Comer Youth Center, as well as other national groups that support the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance.“

          https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/other-sources/article/?id=13673285&title=Obama-Foundation-has-best-fundraising-year-yet,-with-assets-near-$1-billion

          On the other hand, Donald Trump and his family stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from their charitable foundation, using it to finance political campaigns and purchase portraits of himself for his golf clubs.

        • “The Trump Foundation also agreed last month to distribute its $1.7 million in remaining assets to the same charities that will receive the $2 million in damages ordered on Thursday. According to the judgment, those charities are Army Emergency Relief, Children’s Aid Society, Citymeals-on-Wheels, Give an Hour, Martha’s Table, United Negro College Fund, United Way of National Capital Area, and U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.”

          https://www.npr.org/2019/11/07/777287610/judge-says-trump-must-pay-2-million-over-misuse-of-foundation-funds

        • The Obamas are not selling Barack’s suit to raise money, they are not hawking bobble head dolls, they are not hustling trading cards, they are living their best life.

          Meanwhile, a bunch of angry, and impotent old men are ranting anonymously on the Internet.

        • So you want us to believe that ” Mrs. 49er ” , your mother, actually named you ” Miner ” ? Wow, and I thought that my mom, Wilma Whisperer had a warped sense of humor.

        • No, his mom named him
          “Jackass Pompous Pot calling The Kettles Black “, but he got tired of going through so many crayons that he had it changed to ” dacian Albert Vlad Miner the 49th “

        • How do you get to be worth $100 million without selling products and services? What service have they been selling?

        • “How do you get to be worth $100 million without selling products and services?“

          The information is readily available from the public released tax returns from the Obamas.
          Unlike corrupt Donald Trump, the Obamas (and Bidens) have released years of tax returns because they have nothing to hide.

          “For her part, Michelle Obama’s first memoir, “Becoming,” was published in November 2018 and became that year’s No. 1 best-selling book.

          Her second book, “The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times,” was published in November 2022 and also became a bestseller.
          And the former president’s latest memoir, “A Promised Land,” sold nearly 890,000 copies within 24 hours of its November 2020 release.
          From 2005 (when Barack Obama joined the US Senate) to 2016, the Obamas earned a total of $20.5 million from his government salary, book royalties, investment income, and Michelle Obama’s income from her job at University of Chicago Hospitals before she became the first lady.

          From 2005 to 2016, Obama earned $15.6 million in advances and royalties from his books “The Audacity of Hope” and “Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters” and royalties for “Dreams From My Father.”

          https://www.businessinsider.com/barack-obama-michelle-obama-net-worth-2018-7?amp

          Of course, 10 seconds on Google would give you the answer, but you think you already know the answer.

          “Must be the corrupt, how else could them black folks get $100 million, they’re all shiftless & lazy“

          There’s a word for that pre-judgment…

  5. “We separated the two under some pretense, and I explained my observations to the injured woman. I assured her that I could keep her safe, but that she needed to tell me the truth. She would hear none of it. He loved her and would never intentionally harm her. The cops had a similar conversation with the poor lass as well and got the same answer. Without a witness willing to testify, their hands were tied.”

    Its sounds like you had your suspicions.

    But more specifically this > ” I assured her that I could keep her safe, but that she needed to tell me the truth.”

    As well meaning as you intended to be, never make affirming conditional assurances/promises that you will not be able to keep if the conditions don’t allow it or you do not control the conditions to assure the outcome. You could not ‘keep her safe’ if the condition is such that she decided to not tell you the truth and that’s condition you do not control.

  7. One of my father’s favorites was the guy who walked into the ER with an entrance wound in the middle of his forehead and an exit wound at the back of his head. Needless to say, the staff nurses were pretty surprised out by the wounds, ,as they assumed he’d been shot through and through, and the fact the patient walked in under his own power. It turned out that the bullet entered at nearly a 90 degree angle to the forehead, transited below the skin all the way around, and exited the back of his head in the direction from which it came. A few stitches and a prescription for his headache and he was good to go.

  12. 14-year-old Home Alone Shoots Homeless Home Intruder In Houston, TX > In Houston, Texas, a 14-year-old boy who was alone at home grabbed a gun when he spotted an alleged robber at his front door wearing gloves and a backpack around 7:00 a.m. on Thursday.

    With his parents gone, the teenager retrieved a handgun and fired five or six shots at the man, ultimately causing his demise.

    The authorities received three prior calls in the neighborhood about an individual attempting to gain entry into homes while soliciting money. …”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QB4k7nrjJ_8

    • The grand jury has this case, hopefully we’ll hear more details about the encounter.

      “Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said that the man, who has not yet been identified, was seen fiddling with the front door of the home, and that the 14-year-old boy who was inside ‘became alarmed.“

      Shooting someone for rattling your door knob may create a bit of a problem for the young man.

      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13091305/amp/Home-teen-14-shoots-kills-burglar-trying-homes-door.html

      • it always seems to create a “a bit of a problem for” for you, that wasn’t there and has no way of knowing if that kid was in genuine fear or not.

        • Like the Rittenhouse prosecutor said, everyone has to take a beating now and then. Just give them what they want. Take your beating. If the 14 year-old, or you die, then you die. At least the homeless thief wouldn’t be harmed. Democrat logic.

        • Yes they do, all the while cocooned in their various “Power Palaces” protected by an army of palace police, while they try to disarm us “unwashed”.

  13. 2nd attempt to post

    And how much do you want to bet that the gun that caused the accident was a striker fired weapon with no manual safety. Its an almost a 100% certainty.

    I only hope the couple find a gun savvy lawyer because if they win it will be a landmark case that will send shock waves through the gun manufacturing community that produces these unsafe weapons, read that Glock and its unsafe clones.

    • You have harped on this ‘striker fired’ and ‘manual safety’ thing before numerous times yet you still fail to acknowledge the one main underlying fact, the one staring you right in the face and the one you inadvertently post each time you write about the ‘striker fired’ and ‘manual safety’ thing – that fact is you are a moron with absolutely zero understanding of the subject matter.

    • This women was obviously a victim of her boyfriend. Yet you blame the gun. Just like you questioned the validity of a woman that had to shoot an intruder to protect her and her children. “Didn’t pass the smell test” I believe is how you put it.

      Do you hate women because of your fascist training or because you are an incel?

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