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Regulate the Bullets! (Yes We Can) [1]

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Date: 2023-01-29

When I was a little boy, my grandparents lived in an affluent suburb outside of town. One Fourth of July, their neighbor was out grilling steaks on his patio when he dropped dead. His death was instant. The responding EMTs assumed that it was a heart attack or a stroke. It was not until he arrived at the hospital that the truth was discovered: he had been felled by a stray round. The bullet had entered between his shoulder blade and collarbone, had passed through his body, destroying his lung and his heart, and lodged in his pelvis. There was no exit wound. There was no blood. The person who fired the fatal shot was never caught, nor even sought. Where would law enforcement even start to look? On the Fourth of July, there are literally thousands of drunken idiots firing wildly into the air.

Let's face it: meaningful gun laws will not be passed in the USA during our lifetimes. But I have an idea that could at least move us towards holding irresponsible shooters accountable. Let's advocate for legislation requiring ammunition manufacturers to "tag" their bullets with trace amounts of radioisotopes such as those used in the medical field. Each manufacturer would have a signature "blend". This "signature" would allow law enforcement to determine the manufacturer of a stray bullet, while a simple radiological analysis of half-life decay would pinpoint date of manufacture/sale.

There may be additional benefits as well: being able to trace ammo would make criminal investigations easier. And maybe the cops would be a little less trigger-happy knowing that a fatal shot could be traced right back to them.

I look forward to hearing from the community, especially from our physicists, our nuclear medicine/radiology professionals, and our science geeks at-large!

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/1/29/2150042/-Regulate-the-Bullets-Yes-We-Can

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