Which part of the brain to shoot

[Mystery_of_GodST]

With one gun shot to the head, some people die, some people remain living with injuries.

 

I want to know which side of the head to shoot for an instant death?

Edited December 31, 2010 by Mystery_of_GodST

[peacefultwo]

Why?

[Mystery_of_GodST]

Inquiring minds want to know.

 

I want to know which side of the head will give an instant death

Right, left, back, front, what? And please explain why.

Edited December 31, 2010 by Mystery_of_GodST

[peacefultwo]

You would find shooting yourself in the back of the head rather hard but either side of the head would do as it would blow your brains out.

[Mystery_of_GodST]

Is there a scientific explaination as to why shooting one part of the head would kill you definatley because of its brain functions in that area ?

[DrmDoc]

Is there a scientific explaination as to why shooting one part of the head would kill you definatley because of its brain functions in that area ?

 

The human brain can sustain a surprising amount of damage (e,g., Google search Phineas Gage) without causing death. Although not instantaneous, a gunshot to any area of the cortex can cause death through excessive intracranial pressure arising from either brain swelling or edema. Abraham Lincoln lingered for several days as a result of the brain injury cause by a low-caliber bullet that didn't exit his skull after being shot at close range from the back. Instantaneous death may only be caused by gunshots to the brain that also damage the brainstem, which regulates heart and lung function.

 

To some of us, it is not uncommon to think of such things around this time of the year. The holiday season seems to amplify the loneliness and misfortune some of us feel. However, such thoughts are unhealthy and one should seek the counsel of a mental healthcare provider should these thoughts persist.

Edited January 1, 2011 by DrmDoc

[random]

Yes the brain can certainly survive a huge amount of injury, check out a site called rotten.com. A man quite literally blew his head off with a shotgun , all of it it looks like 2 masses resting on his shoulders and he survived, though i do not know if indefinitely the site is too disturbing for me to go and check.

[Mrs Zeta]

The human brain can sustain a surprising amount of damage (e,g., Google search Phineas Gage) without causing death. Although not instantaneous, a gunshot to any area of the cortex can cause death through excessive intracranial pressure arising from either brain swelling or edema. Abraham Lincoln lingered for several days as a result of the brain injury cause by a low-caliber bullet that didn't exit his skull after being shot at close range from the back. Instantaneous death may only be caused by gunshots to the brain that also damage the brainstem, which regulates heart and lung function.

 

To some of us, it is not uncommon to think of such things around this time of the year. The holiday season seems to amplify the loneliness and misfortune some of us feel. However, such thoughts are unhealthy and one should seek the counsel of a mental healthcare provider should these thoughts persist.

 

I agree with this, sounds too depressive. Also I noticed some other threads talking about inflicting injuries (mercury injections etc), what's the deal?

[michel123456]

I agree with this, sounds too depressive. Also I noticed some other threads talking about inflicting injuries (mercury injections etc), what's the deal?

Newyear back effect? I noticed also a hate message of Dennis (I presume it was him again) that went deleted quickly. I guess loneliness is to blame.

[Ringer]

My friend, who was a marine, says they are trained to 'shoot the T' as he called it. Sides of the T being the eyes, to the bridge of the nose, to the top of the mouth. Shooting these points straight on should cause instant death, though I haven't tried it myself. I would lazily assume, because I'm too tired to picture the areas of the brain ATM, that this would cause damage to the autonomic nervous system, more specifically the parasympathetic division, that controls involuntary action such as heart beat, breathing, etc.

[Marat]

There have been cases of people receiving 12 bullets in the brain without dying, and, as already mentioned, Phineas Gage, who had a tamping iron blasted into his head and through his brain without lethal effect.

 

The most lethal areas of the brain to shoot are the most evolutionarily primitive, since these are the areas which control the heart beat and respiration rather than thought. So to kill yourself most effectively, you need to shoot yourself at the base of the head in the back, rather than, as is traditional, into the side of the head.

 

But shooting yourself in the brain is a risky method of suicide since many people don't shoot accurately and just wind up severely injuring themselves. Also, in many forms of death from shooting yourself in the brain, the actual mechanism of death is suffocation from blood running down your throat with your reflexes sufficiently damaged so you cannot respond adequately to the challenge of impending suffocation, so this is not the best way to go.

 

Shooting yourself in the heart is quicker and more certain, as long as you check in an anatomy text first to make sure you can find exactly where the heart is located. A larger calibre gun (e.g., 44 magnum) improves the certainty of death but increases the danger that you would miss your target from the resulting kick. A revolver also produces more damage than a pistol.

 

If I were ever to commit suicide, I would prefer the Warner Brothers Cartoon method, with two sticks of dynamite strapped to my head, since I wouldn't want anything to go wrong and wind up with non-lethal injuries that would just make life worse or more painful. Men generally commit suicide by using two or more lethal methods simultaneously, while women rarely do so. Males attempt suicide much less often than women, but are much more successful when they do. Most female 'suicide attempts' are in fact 'cry for help' suicides, which are not very lethal in design, like jumping out of a second-storey window for example.

 

Nothing in this post is intended to counsel suicide, of course, which would be illegal, but is just purely theoretical speculation.

[StringJunky]

The UK's SAS aim to hit the Medulla Oblongata, which is the autonomic control centre...this consciously shuts down and physically immobilises the target as quickly as possible presumably bringing a speedy death.

[michel123456]

"The target..."

That makes me sick.

[StringJunky]

"The target..."

That makes me sick.

 

Sorry if I've offended you but I was viewing the matter with a dispassionate and factual attitude thus my words reflect that.

Edited January 1, 2011 by StringJunky

[Mr Skeptic]

I think the best method of suicide would be to shoot yourself in the brainstem, in a hospital with "do not resuscitate" and "organ donor" written all over yourself. At least that way you might save someone else's life, or at least improve it. Even better odds of helping if you volunteer to donate a kidney too, so that they do the compatibility matching ahead of time. Of course, an even better idea is not to kill yourself -- there are really very few reasons to commit suicide, and most people who attempt suicide and fail change their minds about it (for obvious reasons we can't ask those who succeeded, though some religions say those people go to hell). Anyways, go on a giant roller coaster and if you get scared, you know that you don't want to die.

[kiore]

I would also question why..

But if it is just curiosity, well as the phineas gage case has already been mentioned so I will just add that the human brain seems to be able to take significant damage and remain functional in some cases, I have experience with dealing with people who had suffered what you would expect to be immediately lethal projectile and blast injuries where death was anything but assured or fast. In regard to projectiles the point of aim, impact and what that translates to in the projectile pathway and exit can be surprisingly different.

I have witnessed a case where 2 12ga shotgun blasts via the roof of the mouth failed to kill or even result in unconsciousness despite effectively shredding the brain and shattering the skull <and other significant injuries> Cause of eventual death was infection.

[michel123456]

I want to know: in this case, who is the "target"?

[StringJunky]

I want to know: in this case, who is the "target"?

 

Whoever they've got their sights trained on.

[michel123456]

http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=i3Z-wDqlOIA Edited January 4, 2011 by michel123456

[IronParrot]

With one gun shot to the head, some people die, some people remain living with injuries.

 

I want to know which side of the head to shoot for an instant death?

 

 

Well, I think it depends. The brain won't functions if it got shot in the head.

[ZoneIII]

"Abraham Lincoln lingered for several days as a result of the brain injury cause by a low-caliber bullet that didn't exit his skull after being shot at close range from the back. "

 

 

I realize that this is an old thread but it will be new to someone just finding it so I want to correct some misinformation posted here. Lincoln did not live for several days after being shot. He was shot around 10:30 P.M. on April the 14, 1965 and died the following morning at 7:22 A.M. He lived about nine hours after being shot. Also, he was not shot with a small caliber weapon. He was shot with a .44 caliber Philadelphia Derringer. .44 is certainly not a small caliber and, in fact, it is considered to be a large caliber. However, it did not have high muzzle velocity or muzzle energy so the bullet did not pass all the way through Lincoln's head.

 

 

 

 

"'A revolver also produces more damage than a pistol."

I have to make one more correction. I mean absolutley no disprespect but the above quote is pure nonsense. In fact, I'm bewildered that someone would post such a thing on a site devoted to science. Three factors affect the damage a bullet will do: 1) Bullet size 2) Muzzle velocity, and 3) Muzzle energy. (Bullet size can be depend on not only the caliber but also on the type of bullet, e.g. hollow-point, etc.

 

The type of gun the round is fired from makes no difference whatsoever if the above variables are the same. In either case, the bullet is fired from a barrel. The mechanism used to cock and fire the weapon has no effect at all on the damage a bullet does. There are very large caliber pistols even up to .50.

 

Also, the person who I quoted said that a 44 magnum would do more damage than, presumably, a smaller caliber weapon. That is not necessarily true even though it has more MV and ME than most smaller caliber weapons. That's because, in the case of shooting someone in the head, a .44 magnum bullet would pass right through the head and waste most of it's energy. As a matter of fact, it is well known that the weak .22 caliber round can actually do more damage than large caliber bullets when fired into the brain. A .22 caliber bullet, having less ME, will generally not pass through the head so it tends to bounce around inside of the skull, in effect, scrambling the brain. This is one reason why mafia hit men often used .22s in their work.

 

The two handgun rounds that have the greatest one-stop shot rate are the .357 magnum and the .40 S&W (a pistol cartridge). They are both smaller and less powerful than the .44 magnum, of course. One stop shot rates do not necessarily mean the person shot dies, however. It means that it stops the person and removes him or her as a threat but it must do severe damage to do that. This just goes to show that very large and powerful cartridges do not necessary cause more damage, depending on what they hit. Again when a bullet passes all the way through something, the rest of it's energy is simply wasted. A .44 magnum would certainly be a better weapon to stop a bear, for example, but no necessarily the best choice when fired into a human head.

 

As to the original question: A friend of mine is a retired policeman , S.W.A.T. member, and a combat veteran (Vietnam) who saw horrendous action. He has been involved in and seen many shootings. He said that a shot to the base of the brain will stop someone instantly and usually sudden death because it shuts down the most fundamental signals from the brain. This is consistent with reports that Mafia hit men prefer to shoot their victims behind an ear. In fact, my friend was trained to aim for the base of the brain in his S.W.A.T. training when the goal is to cause sudden death.

 

By the way, I should mention that I am a life-long shooter myself.

Edited November 7, 2012 by ZoneIII

[hopeadams]

I think the best method of suicide would be to shoot yourself in the brainstem, in a hospital with "do not resuscitate" and "organ donor" written all over yourself. At least that way you might save someone else's life, or at least improve it. Even better odds of helping if you volunteer to donate a kidney too, so that they do the compatibility matching ahead of time. Of course, an even better idea is not to kill yourself -- there are really very few reasons to commit suicide, and most people who attempt suicide and fail change their minds about it (for obvious reasons we can't ask those who succeeded, though some religions say those people go to hell). Anyways, go on a giant roller coaster and if you get scared, you know that you don't want to die.

Did your parents love you? Are you healthy? Are you not in pain either physical or mental? Do you have a job? If you can answer yes to any of these questions how dare you with this one sided completely callous post know possibly how people who commit suicide feel? What you are saying is a travesty- what you are suggesting utter nonsense. "a sign that says organ donation" the moment a person mentions suicide to a health care employee that person is legally obligated to retain the person on a 48hour suicide watch, which of course would be a hindrance to the person intending to commit suicide.

The statistics are one thing in the US. Have you forgotten that there are 6 billion other people inhabitating this planet, that there are parts of this earth besdies the united states inhabited by people? Sure suicide may seem selfish here even though it is far more complex than that but what about the conditions of living in 3rd world countries with rampant poverty rampant sex trafficking aids or civil wars constant economical depressionnot mitigated by debt ceiling.

People who commit suicide go to hell. I would refer the person who said that to refer to 1000 yrs of the use of the church as the opiate of the people- the rich over the top embellishments all there to keep the masses in check by assuring them that living in poverty in this lifetime will be rewarded in the afterlife with the splendor they see in church. THere is no hell. This is hell-where people take other people's pain and mock it.

I would reconsider posting in this manner until you have physically had to live in the head of one with a insufficiency of neurotransmitters and whether you feel content to rag on the suffering people in this world.

 

HAve some compassion, you self satisfied ignorant git.

Edited December 23, 2012 by hopeadams

[Tres Juicy]

Did your parents love you? Are you healthy? Are you not in pain either physical or mental? Do you have a job? If you can answer yes to any of these questions how dare you with this one sided completely callous post know possibly how people who commit suicide feel? What you are saying is a travesty- what you are suggesting utter nonsense. "a sign that says organ donation" the moment a person mentions suicide to a health care employee that person is legally obligated to retain the person on a 48hour suicide watch, which of course would be a hindrance to the person intending to commit suicide.

The statistics are one thing in the US. Have you forgotten that there are 6 billion other people inhabitating this planet, that there are parts of this earth besdies the united states inhabited by people? Sure suicide may seem selfish here even though it is far more complex than that but what about the conditions of living in 3rd world countries with rampant poverty rampant sex trafficking aids or civil wars constant economical depressionnot mitigated by debt ceiling.

People who commit suicide go to hell. I would refer the person who said that to refer to 1000 yrs of the use of the church as the opiate of the people- the rich over the top embellishments all there to keep the masses in check by assuring them that living in poverty in this lifetime will be rewarded in the afterlife with the splendor they see in church. THere is no hell. This is hell-where people take other people's pain and mock it.

I would reconsider posting in this manner until you have physically had to live in the head of one with a insufficiency of neurotransmitters and whether you feel content to rag on the suffering people in this world.

 

HAve some compassion, you self satisfied ignorant git.

I think this is a little harsh.

 

If you re-read the post I don't think it was intended to "rag" on anyone or propose the existence of hell. I also don't see any claims to know how people feel.

 

Anyway, from the information here it seems to me that the most humane way to kill a person would be to completely destroy the brain as quickly as possible.

 

In countries where capitol punishment is still used surely they should slam the heads of inmates between big steel blocks at 100+ mph. That seems more humane than electrocution or lethal injection.

Edited December 28, 2012 by Tres Juicy

[abisha]

if i recall the functions of a brain is cross-linked.

 

left controls right, right control left.

 

around 1 at 10.000.000 people have a parallel Link, witch case them to function abnormal left=left right=right.

your heart is on the left side, the function is on the right side of the brain, so doing the most dangers area of inquiring.

[SamBridge]

There's different parts of the brain responsible for different things as well as how much damage a bullet does. There is a part in the back of the brain, the lower back, that I think controls heart function, if it gets severed a person will die, but if a bullet pierces too much and cleanly travels through the brain, hitting things like the cortexes for cognitive thought and memory which occupy a large part of the upper region of the brain won't do much, i mean it will, it will cause brain damage that will take 10-30 years to heal, but it won't kill anyone. But I guess if the bullet folds enough to transfer it's energy it will just tear up too much of the tissue and kill someone anyway no matter what angle you hit someone from.