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Wednesday, June 07, 2006
M16’s bullet can pierce 20 inches of flesh
By Karlon N. Rama
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña’s plan to issue M16 rifles to all hinterland barangay captains, aside from raising the question whether it is allowable under current laws, also brings up other concerns.
“Will you trust your barangay captain with an Armalite?” was the oft-repeated question among people—policemen, lawyers and courtroom kibitzers alike—at the Palace of Justice yesterday.
Armalite, short for the Armalite Division of the Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corp., is the company that developed the platform from where the modern M16 emerged.
From a public safety standpoint, said Adrian Gregory Tadena, a firearm instructor who now works with the justice department, any gun, especially this one, is definitely dangerous in untrained hands.
But, Tadena said, it is possible to train non-military people in proper rifle deployment.
“If you master its mechanical operation and practice the proper way to use it, you can deploy the firearm safely even if you aren’t a policeman or a military man,” he explained.
After all, he said, it’s simply just another rifle, although possessing select-fire capabilities and firing a powerful round.
Target
His concern is different altogether.
Tadena’s concern has to do with barangay captains becoming targets for communist insurgents who’d want such a valuable weapon for their cause.
“More free guns for the NPA (New People’s Army) to grab. More free guns to terrorize people during elections,” agreed Dr. Tyrone Mercader, a firearms instructor who is also a government doctor.
And there are also those who question whether the intent is sound.
The mayor justified his plan to give the M16 rifles away to hinterland barangay captains because the Cebu City Police Office, with its existing compliment of troops, cannot spare the manpower and assign more people there.
But a lawyer and law professor said that no study was ever done to analyze the crime situation in any of the 28 hinterland barangays in Cebu City.
Problems
“What are usually the crimes there? What are the most common law enforcement problems? Does the enforcement of laws there necessitate the use of firearms? Won’t vehicles be more important?” he posed.
“If it is true that the cost of giving away the rifles is P2 million, they better study that. That’s a big disbursement,” he said.
The rifles were originally donated to the city government by the AFP and were refurbished using city funds by the Cebu-based firm Ferfrans Specialties Inc.
Being designed solely for military use, the M16 rifle has both semi-automatic and full-automatic firing capabilities and the word accident takes on a whole new meaning with this firearm.
While on semi-auto, the gun will fire one round per every pull of the trigger. On full-auto, however, the gun will fire continuously, until it empties its magazine, as long as the shooter does not release the trigger.
All it takes to shift from one state to the other is the downward flick of the thumb.
Lethal
While this feature is common in all modern infantry rifles, the M16 (a military designation) is chambered for the very lethal 5.56x45 mm cartridge.
This ammunition, often referred to simply as the 5.56 mm, is adopted by all Nato armies.
When fired from an appropriately barreled weapon, it is designed to travel over 3,250 feet per second to deliver a spitzer-shaped (pointed) bullet weighing 3.63 grams.
The bullet, after entering soft tissue, begins to yaw (tumble) at a certain depth and, in so doing, enlarges the wound cavity.
Then, at a further depth, the bullet disintegrates, sending copper jacket and lead core fragments to disperse into the wound channel, worsening internal damage.
Not many people survive this form of gunshot wound.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (June 7, 2006 issue)
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