“It was an assassination attempt,” said a government minister, Patrick Devedjian. “He fired a first shot, which was turned away, then he was overcome and tried to turn the weapon against himself.”

Of course a .22 can do damage, especially a LR hollowpoint. You could heat up a load, and make a decent weapon.

And hitting a moving target at that distance in a vulnerable area under those conditions is possible. One of those things that can be argued as something that could happen.

Would anyone regard it as an assassination attempt with a chance of working? Doubt it. Squeeze off a FAST shot at a rolling cantaloupe at 150 feet even not in a crowd and see how you do. Now imagine standing in a crowd.

If you consider .223s as .22s, you can get them up to a very, very decent velocity, and do some real damage.

Arf