Question 082: Firearm defense

Do you think putting a finger or thumb between the hammer and cylinder of a revolver (when ready to fire) would break ones finger if the trigger were pulled? I have heard of people having to cut their own throats to breath after choking on something. Where would one want to make the incision? I ask this because I almost choked on steak the other day and realized that I should probably find this out.. just in case.. (I've tried to look this up. It's one of those things that's very hard to find because of the wording).

Reply

Sometimes grabbing the cylinder of a revolver and applying pressure to spin it will prevent the gun from firing. Placing something between the hammer and the firing pin will prevent a revolver from firing; usually this something will be a body part, such as a finger or the web of skin between the thumb and index finger. The finger will not be broken, and you will probably not feel the pain due to the circumstances. The web of skin will probably be punctured and will hurt a lot, but it will not be incapacitating and it will heal later. Pain is better than dead.

Any account of someone cutting their throat to stop choking on something is something of which you should be skeptical. Cutting your throat to stop choking on an object is similar to cutting off your arm because your finger hurts. First, if the object is below the cut, then you now have two serious problems: you will still be choking on the object and now you will also be choking on blood from the cut. Emergency tracheotomies work better on television than in real life.

If a person were choking, he or she probably could not even sign his or her name, so how could the person make a precise cut to his or her own throat. If you are choking, you cannot get oxygen into your body, so, even if you stay clam, you only have a few seconds to do anything before you pass out. Finding a sharp instrument, finding the correct place to cut, and then cutting to the right depth would be practically impossible, even for a surgeon, since they are trained to operate on others, not themselves.

When you are with someone who is choking, use the Heimlich Maneuver on him or her. If you are choking, you can do it to yourself by leaning over an object such as a chair.