Home repair danger

Not enough detail but my guess is human error is a big factor. The article give the impression the gun just went off, no mention of the operator handling it.

Had he pulled the nail out he would have died.

Years ago a local tavern owner was shot in the heart with an arrow.

(Manslaughter, no accident)

He pulled it out an bled to death almost at once.

Since he was very close to a hospital he almost for sure could have been saved.

I've shot deer in the heart with an arrow. With a broad head arrow they are off their feet in less than 10 seconds and expire practically immediately. I almost got cut with a broad head one day. The arrow was broken off but when I field dressed the deer was lucky not to get cut by the broad head still in the heart. A field pointed arrow used in target shooting might act like a plug but I doubt it as heart will be beating and expanding and contracting.

Here's a nail gun shot in the head:

Maybe like the brain shot showed here, the nail in the heart might have gone in at an angle and although only one inch of the three inch nail was showing the nail may not have penetrated that far into the chest cavity.

I don't recall the exact details but I believe the guy was shot in the heart with just a simple, "target shooting" arrow.

With a hunting arrow I'm sure he would have been dead no matter what.

Mabee it was a really old nail gun, made before the safety was required - or mabee he was a good republican and defeated the safety because it was government intervention in his life.

Not sure how far a target arrow would penetrate. Hunting arrow in heart would be sure thing. I have been frustrated where arrow only got one lung of a deer, tracked for hours without finding.

Years ago, at work, they circulated JAMA to our site and I used to enjoy reading about some of the things that people did. I particularly remember about the guy that came in to the emergency room to have a light bulb removed. Claimed he had too much to drink and accidentally sat on it.

I think you might be surprised. Early on, Second Chance Vests would not protect against edged weapons. While they would stop a .38 or 9mm, etc. an arrow or a knife would go right through the Kevlar unless there was an armor plate being used. That broadpoint arrow is nice and it serves it's purpose but I submit that a metal tipped target arrow, I'm rather sure would penetrate - if not OVERPENETRATE. Early on, after the adoption of 9mm cartridges for law enforcement use, they found they weren't doing the job because they were going right through the target and not "sharing the love of kinetic energy" sufficiently to stop the aggressor. Hence, the hollow point projectiles of every design. Meant to penetrate far enough to expand as large as physically possible inside the target and dump all that energy and create hydrostatic shock and massive tissue damage. You're not going to stop somebody by shoving a sharpened pencil through their tissue unless that tissue happens to be heart or brain tissue.