Why do people who are wearing bulletproof vests pass out when getting shot?

Question

I see it in the movies all the time. Lethal Weapon 1 comes to mind. When Riggs gets shot during that drive-by, he flies into the store window and lies unconscious. A few seconds later, he comes to and is in his maniac mode.

Ok, I know that this is a movie...an unrealistic one, at that. But this is the same thing that happens in a whole lot other movies as well. Is this what really happens when you get shot while wearing a bulletproof vest?

Why does this happen? Is it the force of the bullet? Or the shock of getting hit?

Answer 1

1. It still hurts like hell
and
2. The stress of the situation (wondering if the vest stopped the bullet, or if you got shot at all)

Answer 2

Definitely Hollywood. No on flies back 20 feet after being shot by any weapon. A bomb maybe, but if they are close enough to be blown back, they are probably losing body parts also.

Impact shock alone can cause shock to a humans nervous system. The area of the bullet hit is put under extreme pressure. As with any injury, the body sends blood to the areas for support. Body doesn't know the bullet was stopped, just knows there was an injury.

High power bullets may be stopped by the vests but the massive shock can tear tissue and cause blunt trauma death.The power of some rifle rounds will push the vest into the human body and actually create a worse wound than a bullet that went completely through the body. The vest just slowed it down enough to really rip up the person.

Answer 3

That does not happen EVER you never fly back through a window when you are shot. Ballistic vests stop a bullet and SPREAD OUT the shock but it still feels like getting a baseball thrown into you at 95 MPH. You have a big bruise or possibly some broken bones but you are alive

Answer 4

If it has the ceramic plates, no it will not work again. If it has the soft armor, the integrity around the shot is likely to weaken it substantially, so it wouldn't have to be the exact same spot to fail, just near it. Don't be like that idiot on Youtube who took live fire to see if a vest worked...he went to the hospital and who knows if he survived.

Answer 5

A bullet-proof vest only protects you from the lethal damage of a bullet--it does not alleviate the impact of of a bullet being discharged upon your body, with the physical impact of being shot.

Perhaps we all need to be shot wearing a bullet-proof vest to be able to testify. Personally, I don't know whether I am willing to put the "vest" to a test.

Answer 6

You don't go flying, but you have what is called inertial impact in whatever area of the body is hit. If it hits a vest, I've heard it described as being "kicked by a horse" even though the vest dissipates the force of the impact.

Answer 7

That is all holleywood. It doesnt' happen. Bullets lack the mass to even knock you down. Watch Mythbusters, they did an entire show on this myth. I have also seen a documentary on it.

The reason most people fall down when shot is the shock and flinching. It is a reaction, not an effect of the shot. This is why people don't fall down when they don't realize they are shot. if they didn't realize it due to adrenaline then they do not normally fall down.

Answer 8

No, you don't go flying through windows like in the movies, but you do get hit pretty hard. Here's something for you to look up. That bullet just broke the sound barrier. That's what the loud noise is when the weapon is fired. Something that small, traveling that fast, will knock the wind out of you. Knowing that, what's the speed of sound?. (at sea level, 70 degrees, 767 mph)

Answer 9

Most of the time, they seem to lose consciousness because they want the viewing audience to think for a moment they are dead, and then "Lo and behold!" they aren't and everyone is happy. It is a plot device and that is all.

You will not be thrown backwards either.

Answer 10

Oh yeah! Because it happened in a whole BUNCH of movies and not just 1 or 2 it MUST be true! Friggin genius!
Thats why 75% of the people in this country are functionally retarded...they believe EVERYTHING they see on TV or in the movies and think its 100% true.
Example 1: In dozens and dozens of action movies the hero is shot in the shoulder near the collarbone, but exclaims "I'm OK...its only a flesh wound", and continues fighting and battling the bad guys with the wounded arm.
Fact: The upper shoulder area contains a nerve bundle that if struck by a bullet would, depending on the exact location, render the hand, the entire arm, or an entire side of the body, useless. Also, that area is the confluence of a whole slew of diffrent bones (collarbone, scapula, etc). These bones would be shattered from the bullet, not to mention the large amount of blood vessels in the area as well.
If struck in this area, you would not be battling bad guys and firing a gun with the injured appendage, you would be bleeding profusely, have little or no function of the arm at all, and be in such intense pain, it would probably overload your body's capacity to handle it and you would pass out.

This is just ONE example of the crap Hollywood throws out there. If you honestly believe any of it, then go back to drinkin your Bud Light while watching the "realism" of the WWE.