I can’t believe that you actually printed this (baloney).

You (Thom Gunn, “Soundoff,” Feb. 25) sure don’t let little things like facts get in the way of a good “story,” do you.

Well here are some obvious facts:

A roast beef is not a human being.

A roast beef is not alive.

You think that a living, breathing human being might be just a little bit different than a piece of dead cow?

Mr. Gunn’s ballistic testing is worthless based on the fact that he didn’t use the exact type of shotgun (or one at least in the same gauge) that Vice President Cheney was using.

He used a 20 gauge vs. a 28 gauge.

Did you stop to think that there might be a difference in the ballistic performance in the two complete different gauges of the shotguns?

No, I didn’t think so.

In addition to the difference in the gauge of the shotgun used, Mr. Gunn also does not say if his 20 gauge was the same length as the vice president’s shotgun. He also fails to mention if it had the same choke and the same ammunition from the same manufacturer using the same weight shot.

The following is a quote from “Gun Tests,” an on-line consumer resource for shooters (along the lines of Consumer Reports).

“Unlike most other gauges, the 28-gauge shotshell is available in only the 2 ¾-inch length … Though there are a few heavy field loads in this gauge that contain 7/8 to 1 ounce, standard ammunition is loaded with ¾ ounce of shot …

“This is ¼ ounce less shot than a 20-gauge shell and ³/8 ounce less than a standard 12-gauge shell of the same length. With the reduced powder load needed to drive the smaller shotcharge, the 28 is a much sweeter-shooting round than its two larger stablemates. Surprisingly, it also tends to pattern very efficiently …

“In fact, as far out as 35 yards, the 28 puts as much of its shot payload (on a percentage basis) into a 30-inch patterning circle as the 12 and 20 gauge.

That’s a lot of bang without a lot of buck.”

These are called facts, something that Mr. Gunn is lacking in and something you, as the publisher and as the editor, obviously know little about.

If Mr. Gunn wanted to present facts he would have done some serious research along the lines of Dr. Fackler.

Google Marvin Fackler and learn something about ballistics.

Further, if Mr. Gunn had any working knowledge of physics (or the facts) he would know that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

“Cheney swings to his right and behind him, 180 degrees, he doesn’t see Whittington in flame-orange vest and flame-orange cap and fires, hitting him so hard that Harry is knocked flat on his back.”

This is not Hollywood science, a gun shot does not lift and thrust a person back 20 feet like it does in the movies.

According to the laws of physics, had the vice president’s gunshot “knocked Harry flat on his back” it would have also knocked the vice president flat on his back too.

I didn’t notice anything about Mr. Gunn being knocked flat on his back when he fired his 20 gauge shotgun.

Had Mr. Gunn wanted to actually do some “fact” finding he would have gotten another piece of dead cow the same size and weight and then shot it at his “opinionated” distance at which he thinks the vice president shot Mr. Whittington.

I’ll bet that at a distance of less than 30 feet Mr. Gunn’s 20 gauge shotgun would have blown a small fist-sized hole into that piece of chuck roast.

For some further facts please head on over to the following web page where the owners of myscienceproject.org did testing with a 28 gauge shotgun: www.myscience

project.org/shooting.html.

Of course you won’t bother to print this in the paper because the facts would get in the way of a good “story,” and since you and the owners of this newspaper are anti-gun it goes without saying.

Joe Hawkins lives in Oak Harbor.