Apparently the myths of centerfire rifles wiping out all life within a 100 mile radius of someone using a rifle against a deer are simply myths. Go figure. http://www.centredaily.com/129/story/53706.html State study says shotguns can be as risky as rifles The Associated Press HARRISBURG, Pa. --Requiring Lehigh Valley hunters to use shotguns instead of rifles would not necessarily make the area safer during deer season, according to a state-sponsored study released Wednesday. The study by MountainTop Technologies was ordered following a November 2004 accident in which a pregnant, 18-year-old Lehigh County woman sitting in a car in her driveway was struck in the head by a stray bullet from the rifle of a hunter a half-mile away. The study, commissioned by the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee, compared the ranges of rifles and shotguns, including the distance that the projectiles traveled after ricocheting off the ground. While rifle bullets traveled farther than shotgun slugs when the guns were fired at an upward angle, the shotgun slugs went farther when the guns were fired parallel to level ground, the study found. Rifle bullets tend to tumble after they strike the ground, slowing their velocity when they ricochet, while the shotgun slugs maintained more energy and aerodynamic properties, according to the study. Authors of the study recommended that state officials consider requiring the use of reduced-ricochet projectiles as an alternative to a rifle ban as a means of managing risk in areas with special hunting regulations. Some legislators had pressed for a ban on deer rifles in the densely populated Lehigh Valley region following the 2004 shooting of Casey Burns. Burns has short-term memory loss and other problems, but had a healthy baby in February 2005. The following month, hunter Craig T. Wetzel pleaded guilty to violating state game rules and was sentenced to six months of probation and a five-year hunting ban.