Columbus Shooting: What Goes Up…

As I sat down to write this post about idiots in the media offering their takes on that Columbus police officer who SAVED a girl’s life by killing a girl about to stab her, I had the sudden urge to spout cliches.

Sometimes it’s the moth-eaten maxims that really do say it best. Here’s one that works: What goes up must come down.

That well-respected scholar, Joy Behar on “The View,” suggested that had she been the officer on the scene, she would “shoot the gun in the air…or shoot her in the leg or the behind.”

Brilliant. A remarkable example of ignorance on parade.

I’m guessing Behar slept through physics class.

Since Behar clearly needs a refresher, here’s a little lesson in what happens when a gun is fired into the sky:

U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Julian Hatcher, who apparently was curious and had some time on his hands, did experiments in Florida in which he fired various weapons — ranging from rifles to machine guns — up into the air, and tried to measure how long it took for the bullets to come down, as well as where they landed. 

As he noted in his 1947 volume "Hatcher's Notebook," he calculated that a standard .30 caliber bullet fired from a rifle pointed straight up would rise to an altitude of 9,000 feet (2,743.2 meters) in 18 seconds, and then would return to Earth in another 31 seconds, and during the last few thousand feet would attain a "nearly constant" speed of 300 feet (91.4 meters) per second.

Every year people die due to “celebratory gunfire.” It happens a lot in the Middle East. We like to think we’re a little more restrained in the U.S. 

Apparently not. Then again, what are the chances Behar has ever fired a gun?

Juan Williams, who actually is smart, foolishly suggested something similar on Fox’s “The Five” : 

“I guess I would shoot the gun not necessarily at someone. Maybe shoot the gun and maybe run at the person and try to disarm them."

Good one, Juan.

There were at least a dozen people in the immediate area of the fight on Tuesday. I’m sure shooting - but not AT someone - would have been perfectly safe. There’s an excellent chance a bystander would have taken a bullet.

Sheesh. I expected more of him. 

Perhaps the most embarrassing suggestion came from an actual journalist whose job it is to ask intelligent questions. At the mayor’s Wednesday press conference in Columbus, this inquiring mind wanted to know why the officer didn’t simply shoot the knife-wielding girl in the leg.

The mayor looked at him in disbelief and then patiently explained that police officers are trained to aim at the largest target. That’s the torso. Always. Aiming to maim would likely get a bystander killed.

Another embarrassing display by a reporter. Perhaps a day at a shooting range ought to be required of all journalists.

Speaking of cliches. Here’s another, sometimes attributed to Mark Twain:

 It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to talk and remove all doubt.

Reporters, pundits and fools on The View should take note.