Pistol-whipping facts for kids

Pistol-whipping, also sometimes called buffaloing, is when someone uses a handgun not for shooting, but as a blunt weapon, like a club. This practice has been around since the time of muzzle loaders. These were early guns that could only fire one shot. After firing, people would use them as clubs in close-up fights.

Where Did the Name Come From?

The word "buffaloing" was first used in the Wild West. It meant to scare or trick someone by bluffing. By the 1870s, it started to mean hitting someone with a handgun. This change happened after Stuart N. Lake wrote about Wyatt Earp doing it. Wild Bill Hickok was also known for using this technique. Hitting someone with a revolver was seen as an extra insult to the person.

The terms "pistol-whipping" and "to pistol-whip" are more modern. They were first noted as new American words in 1955. People had been using them since the 1940s.

How Was It Done?

Using a handgun as a blunt weapon started in the 1400s with muzzle loaders. These guns fired only one shot and were slow to reload. So, people would use them to hit opponents in close fights after they had fired their shot. It depended on the situation whether someone held the gun by its barrel to strike with the handle, or just swung the heavy gun like a club.

There are different ideas about the best way to do this. Author Paul Wellman pointed out problems with hitting someone with the butt of a gun while holding it by the barrel. This is sometimes seen in Western movies. One problem is the risk of the gun accidentally firing and hurting the person holding it. Also, many early revolvers were not very strong around their firing parts. Turning the gun around to hold it by the barrel also takes extra time. This time could be very important in a fight.

To avoid these risks, pistol-whipping could be done by holding the gun normally. The person would hit the target with an overhand swing using the barrel or the side of the gun. This was a common way to knock someone out in the old frontier days. The heavy weight of handguns back then helped make this effective. This method was known as "buffaloing."

This practice was sometimes seen as a way to avoid deadly fights. Instead of shooting, an officer might knock someone unconscious with their revolver. This was believed to lower the number of deaths. However, this technique would later be seen as a form of police brutality.

The television show Deadliest Warrior tested pistol-whipping with an 1870s-style revolver. The tests showed that using the long barrel of a gun like the Colt Single Action Army in a whipping motion could hit with enough force to break a skull. It could even kill someone with just one hit.

What Marks Does It Leave?

Pistol-whipping can leave unusual cuts on a person's body. This is because of the different parts that stick out on a pistol. If the blows are made with the butt of the gun, the skin might show half-circle or triangle-shaped cuts. The bottom part of a semi-automatic pistol, where the magazine goes, can leave rectangular cuts. These cuts can be shallow or deep. The skin under the hit area often does not bruise much because the skin is split open instead of just crushed.