andy said:
...or just having the mutts captured, (or shot by) the animal control officer,
No such animal as an "animal control officer" around here. In the city, very likely, but not out where I am.
Sounds like you're assuming that all the dogs running around
should or at least "are likely to" be rounded up or shot. Not true, here anyway. Dogs run loose, and as long as they don't hurt anything or anyone (which most don't) they're treated like anything or anyone that doesn't hurt anything; they're left alone. If they DO start hurting things, then they need to be dealt with, but that's actually a rare thing, percentage-wise.
andy said:
then kept at the pound for amonth, then gassed to death (choking for 30 secs or longer) So how is THAT death ANY more humane than a shot to the lung, and within a couple of seconds, another to the head?
Two reasons;
First, at the pound, they at least have the opportunity to be picked up by their owner or adopted by a new owner. Lung-shooting them doesn't give them that opportunity.
Secondly, they're someone else's property, and (this is the important part):
I don't have the right to destroy someone else's property, even if I believe it's for "legit research"
Simple "yes" or "no" answer would be appreciated on this one. Do you believe you have the right to destroy someone else's property, just because you want to?
Because that's literally what you're advocating, when talking of killing a domestic animal that poses no threat to anyone or anything.
andy said:
U have no answer, cause you'd rather BS about what bullets do in flesh than KNOW what they do.
My answers are above.
I do know what bullets do in flesh; they penetrate, tear things up, and sometimes kill. Growing up in the country, animals often had to be put down. Sometimes they've turned rogue or predatory, sometimes they're injured domestic animals that are suffering, sometimes just plain hunting. I've also twice had to put down animals on duty; once an injured deer, and once a feral dog. (We do get a fair amount of those here.) CAR-15 on the dog, and 9mm +P+ on the deer; both normal factory loads, and both worked fine. I've killed more than enough animals in my life. (Maybe that's why I don't obsess about it. Kind of like sex; once you have a "regular supply", you still think about it and enjoy it, but you don't dwell and obsess on it like a pimply 14-year-old does.)
I've shot bullets into flesh, as have many here, and frankly, the only reason I can see for using random dog shooting for "testing" is convenience; they're just about everywhere, which makes it easy. But for comparing to human flesh, I suspect a deer is substantially more representative than dogs, when extrapolating performance to human defense. And randomly shooting deer is no more illegal than randomly shooting dogs, at least in my area. The difference is that dogs are often just out wandering around, and shooting deer takes work.