"Sure I shot you, but look I also planted a tree." Department of Defense looks into biodegradable bullets implanted with seeds.

Courtesy of Live Science:

They're soliciting proposals for biodegradable bullets "loaded with specialized seeds to grow environmentally beneficial plants that eliminate ammunition debris and contaminants.

"Such materials best suited for these bullets could include the same biodegradable plasticsused to make water bottles or plastic containers. Or it could be some other material altogether. 

According to the request for proposal, the US Army Corps of Engineers' Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory has already developed and tested seeds that can be embedded into a biodegradable composite. They've been bioengineered to germinate only after they've been in the ground for several months.

Apparently the DOD also wants this technology to extend to grenades and tank shells. as well.

This is one of those stories that kind of makes my brain stutter.

On the one hand planting vegetation to remove soil contaminants and feed the wildlife seems like a great idea. On the other hand it kinds of seems like the technological advancement is a little off target.

How about instead of planting a rain forest while blowing people to shit, we instead focus on nonlethal methods for incapacitating our enemies?

Finding a way to temporarily stun or immobilize an enemy combatant while leaving them alive seems far more humane and beneficial to the planet than planting saplings in a pool of their blood.

But hey, that's just me.

Philadelphia Wal-Mart sued for selling bullets to underage drunk man who then used them in a shooting spree.

Courtesy of Philly.com: 

Robert Jourdain had been drinking for hours before he walked into a Walmart store early in the morning of July 5 and bought a box of .38-caliber ammunition, court papers say. 

Shortly before 3 a.m., Jourdain, then 20, left the Northampton Crossings shopping center in Lower Nazareth Township and got into the white Mercedes Benz sport utility vehicle where Todd West was waiting with a Smith & Wesson revolver. Within an hour, West allegedly used the bullets to kill three people in a random shooting spree on the streets of Easton and Allentown. 

The victims' families have filed a lawsuit in Philadelphia against Walmart that one expert says could succeed despite federal protections for gun and ammo dealers. The families claim Walmart and its employees were negligent in selling the ammunition to Jourdain because they should have known he was too young to buy it legally and was mentally impaired by alcohol. 

"The bottom line here is that Walmart sold .38-caliber handgun ammunition to an underage person in the middle of the night, and that ammunition was used to kill several people," said Philadelphia attorney Matt Casey, who filed the suit last week. 

Members of my family work in the bar business. If a bartender serves alcohol to a person who is clearly inebriated and then that person is involved in a fatal car accident the bar can be held legally responsible.

Same thing seems reasonable when it comes to selling bullets.

In fact I would like to see similar laws in place not only about alcohol, but also concerning a person who is clearly agitated, making verbal threats, or appearing in any other way unhinged or potentially dangerous.

After all these are bullets they are selling people, not baby aspirin.