this post was submitted on 09 Jun 2025
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A Boring Dystopia
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I mean, let’s not use charged language like ‘almost point blank’ when it clearly isn’t… to attempt to make it more provocative than it already is.
This is already a blatantly obvious unwarranted attack on a reporter and the 1A. An attack on someone who isn’t even participating in the protests, just reporting. Who the officer clearly saw. This is assault (edit: or battery, depending on your legal definitions and the jurisdiction).
But, ‘almost point blank’…? That’s like 20-30 yards there.
I'm curious to know what you think "point blank" means.
I'll admit that before reading this comment thread I probably would have said that point blank is so close you could basically reach out and touch, or nearly touch, the target.
I do hope, however, that I would look it up before contesting how it was used.
The technical term comes from archery. In archery, the arrow rises when fired, so when shooting at very close targets, you actualy aim lower than the point you want to hit. At distant targets, of course, you aim higher, because the arrow will start to fall.
"Point Blank" is the distance at which you aim directly at the target. Last time I did any shooting, it was about 22 feet, with my bow and my arrows.
Neat! That makes sense. Appreciate the learning moment!
It actually comes from artillery, but it's the same idea.
Cannons were tapered, so the bore would point slightly upwards compared to the line of sight on top of the cannon. So the projectiles trajectory would rise above and then fall below the line of sight.
Point blank range was the distance at which the projectile drops below that line when the cannon was aimed at zero elevation.
RAW for Point Blank Shot in 5e has it within 5 feet