November 22

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On this day in 1963, millions of shocked and horrified Americans, glued to radios or televisions across the nation, waited through hours they would never forget in the wake of the news that had hit the nation like a freight train: "The President is dead." As unbelievable as the news had been, the explanation that would follow seemed even more so — actor Kevin Costner, portraying New Orleans D.A. Jim Garrison in the 1991 film "JFK," summed it up succinctly:    "Never in the history of gunfire has there been a bullet this ridiculous." Ever since the assassination of John F. Kennedy the question has lingered: how could just one bullet possibly traverse 15 layers of clothing, 7 layers of skin, approximately 15 inches of tissue and a necktie knot, remove 4 inches of rib, and shatter a radius bone? Simply preposterous, right? A Discovery Channel special "Unsolved History: JFK — Beyond the Magic Bullet", attempted to replicate the conditions of that day. The participants set up blocks of ballistics gel with a substance similar to human bone inside. Next, two mannequin figures made of ballistic anatomical substances (animal skin, gelatin, and interior bone-analog cast) were set up in the exact relative position of JFK and Connally. A marksman, from a distance equal to that of the sixth floor of the Book Depository building, fired the same rifle model found in the Book Depository, using a round from the same batch of Western Case Cartridge Company 6.5x52 mm ammunition purchased with the surplus Carcano weapon in early 1963. The results were astounding. (Click here to find out just how astounding)

On this day

[more] What else happened today

1874 — French target shooter and Olympic medalist Eugene Balme was born in Oullins, a suburb of Lyon. 1922 — Eugene Morrison Stoner (inventor of the AR-15, which was adopted by the military as the M16) is born in Gosport, Indiana. He is regarded by most historians, along with John Browning and John Garand, as one of the United States’ most successful military firearms designers of the 20th century. 1963 — American President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas. The Warren Commission would later offer the ridiculous-seeming "magic bullet theory" as an explanation to how one bullet could traverse 15 layers of clothing, 7 layers of skin, 15 inches of tissue and a necktie knot, remove 4 inches of rib, and shatter a radius bone.

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