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Comment by lostlogin | Hacker News Reader

> I’ve got enough sense to keep it slow and safe in populated areas, yet occasionally open it up elsewhere when conditions are right.

Is this a reference to your driving, or your shooting?

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Both. Driving is much scarier in terms of kinetic energy, anyway.

You may be surprised to learn how much kinetic energy is possible to wield in terms of man portable firearms that are also legal for purchase.

A 20mm rifle is a perfect example of how velocity kills in gun terms. 60000J of energy in one trigger pull. This is equivalent to a car traveling at 15-20mph.

And yet pedestrians would understandably get very nervous if there were a bunch of people firing those rifles along a typical street, yet they have learnt to accept the risk that comes with car-heavy traffic.

At 20mph in a well-designed street, there’s still a lot of opportunity for people to keep themselves safe. Not so much with guns.

On badly designed streets and with bad and/or speeding drivers, on the other hand.

And don’t get me started on the dangers of cars with high hoods. We’ve known for years that to keep pedestrians and cyclists safe, they need to go on top of the car, instead of under it.

No I wouldn't be surprised at all :)

A Toyota Corolla going 65MPH is a lot of kinetic energy.

Love this, thanks! Sadly haven’t found time to go shooting in years. And am always careful not to point either of these things (cars, guns) at other drivers.

Fyi, this is being written from public transit. You didn’t think I would actually drive to work, did you? ;-)

The problem with an American autobahn is that someone will inevitably be driving 55mph in the fast lane.

So true, because it’s their right to do so, so screw everyone else.

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