Pistol-whipping
Pistol-whipping or buffaloing is the act of using a
Etymology
The term buffaloing is documented as being used in the
The modern terms pistol-whipping and to pistol-whip were reported as "new words" of American speech in 1955, with cited usages dating to the 1940s.[6]
Method
The practice of using the handgun itself as a blunt-force weapon began with the appearance of
There are arguments as to the efficacy of either approach. Author
To avoid the risk of damage or potential delay, pistol-whipping may be done with the gun held in an ordinary manner, hitting the target with an overhand strike from either the barrel or the flank of the gun above the trigger. It was a fairly common way to incapacitate a man in Western frontier days (assisted by the heavy weight of the handguns of the era), known as "buffaloing", with the verb form being "to buffalo".[7][8]
Forensics
Pistol whipping may leave unusual lacerations on the body of the injured due to various protruding details of the pistol.[9][10] When blows are struck using the butt of the weapon rather than its barrel or flank, semicircular or triangular lacerations on the skin may be produced. The magazine well at the bottom of a semi-automatic pistol and its surrounding base produce rectangular lacerations on the skin.[11] These lacerations can vary in depth and severity, but "whipped" fractures are common. The skin underneath the "whipped" area often will not present with bruising because the skin is split and not crushed.[12]
The practice was seen as a means of avoiding fatal confrontations. Instead of opening fire, an officer could knock someone unconscious with the barrel of their revolver which they claimed lowered mortality rates.[13][14] This technique would later be recognized as a form of police brutality.[5]
See also
- Gunstock war club
- Bayonet charge
- Buttstroke
- Mordhau
References
- ^ "Pistol whipping", Random House Unabridged Dictionary
- ^ Fossenkemper, Allen (2011-04-26). "Where did the term "buffaloing" originate?". True West Magazine. Fountain Hills, Arizona. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4766-6447-7.
- ISBN 978-1-64584-285-9.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-313-30560-3.
- ^ "Fifty Years Among the New Words: by John Algeo, p. 142, from vol. 30 (1955), no. 4 of the American Speech, the journal of the American Dialect Society
- ISBN 0-8032-9723-8, p. 196.
- .
- ISBN 0-12-219951-0, p. 185
- ISBN 978-0-08-047066-5.
- ISBN 0-8493-8163-0, pp. 270–271
- ISBN 978-0-398-09312-9.
- ISBN 978-1-4668-8262-1.
- ISBN 978-1-58341-339-5.