Ballistics

“Ballistics: the science of the motion of projectiles in flight; the flight characteristics of a projectile.”– Merriam-Webster Dictionary
In the span of forty minutes, I’ve learned the ways in which firearms and explosives are specifically designed to damage the human body. Cold, scientific descriptions of velocity, joules of energy, blast pattern, range, fragmentation, cavitation, are punctuated with chilling descriptions of injury patterns and death rates, and illustrated with images of mangled bodies.
There are greater than 125 million Kalashnikov assault rifles in circulation worldwide. A variety of mines are available, providing three distinct patterns of injury from which to choose. Many are designed to look like toys, because the maiming of children is a good strategy for crippling a population, both physically and psychologically.
I feel I’m staring into the very face of evil. What allows someone to disengage so completely from their humanity that they can even consider and discuss such things as if they were designing a toaster? If shown a photograph of a mangled human body, how does one think, “We can do better.”?