I think this is a very nice little object, if you completely disregard its intended purpose. It's a very nicely shaped and polished construction of thin steel, copper, and lead. It's well polished, and solidly built. It could very well be a part built for some well-oiled machine, polished up as a matter of function, to allow some other material to glide effortlessly over its bright surfaces. It could even be built for a decorative purpose. Its surfaces are polished, as are many items of jewelry and ornamentation. It doesn't seem to be built for such purpose, however. Without any apparent means of being attached to anything, its only purpose would seem to be to merely sit there on a surface, as a piece of random kitsch. This concludes the objective section... It's probably one of the cruelest facts of modern life that it can all be ended at the hands of another without as much as touching your body. They say necessity is the mother of invention. I can't see the necessity anymore, and am hoping that invention can work in reverse, removing what it wrought completely from existence. At that point, this found object will have as little use to anyone else as it has to me. This is a cartridge for a 9 millimeter pistol. As you will notice, it is not a normal bullet shape. The front of the bullet has the copper sheath notched in a six-pointed configuration, enabling it to split upon impact around its hollow point. The reason for the development of this projectile was to create a means even more effective than a standard bullet alone for one person to cause severe injury to, or kill, another person. Upon impact to soft tissue, the copper sheath splits, and the soft lead core tears. The round is reshaped after entry into a jagged, splayed out, rapidly moving flower of metal, tearing and shredding any internal part of the victim's body that winds up in its path. (I still have not a clue what purpose the protruding pin at the core of the projectile does, but I'm fairly sure it's an equally sinister purpose.) Why do we need this? Why did we have to improve upon an already deadly and pointless piece of equipment of destruction? The answer is simple; our society has felt the need to continue feeding a vicious cycle. Violence has always been present among members of the human race. It's everywhere in the animal kingdom; just watch a couple of male cats go at it sometime. Every one of us has had a feeling of anger or greed that brought us to such at one time or another. If we did not have any form of weapon in hand, it would be very hard to convince ourselves to continue to the point of killing someone in a fit of rage. We have instincts that will force us to turn away. With a gun, there is no chance for any of that to act. In a split second decision, the decision can be made to destroy the life of another, something that will probably be regretted for the rest of the attacker's life. As I mentioned before, this object I found was designed specifically to be fired into another person. It was not designed to be used in hunting animals which one could use for food and other uses. Specifically, it was designed to be used by police and other law enforcement personnel, to reduce the risk that a bullet they fire would ricochet and injure themselves or innocent bystanders. (I'm going to completely fail to gloss over the fact that the TARGET of said flying object could very well be innocent, and merely the victim of an errant split-second decision to fire.) Doesn't that just make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside? Come now, doesn't it? In any good piece of artwork, there is a meaning to be conveyed to the viewer. Of course, determining this meaning is an exercise left to the beholder themselves. However, I will provide my view: The existence of this object, which I found stuck in the back seat of one of the family's cars*, serves to remind us that we as a species are trapped in a dangerous cycle. We came to the errant belief that to survive as a species, we are required to kill our own kind with pushbutton ease. As this vicious cycle advanced, fear led others to invent ways to make it easier and easier to kill on a split-second whim. By extreme extension of the concept, one day, the actions of one may, in a very short period of time, be able to destroy our entire race and all we have worked for. The only saving grace we can find in all of this is the eternal peace that it will eventually bring us all. * - decomissioned undercover police car. I was really hoping to find loose change under the backseat cushion instead.

Don't worry, the core isn't ALWAYS like this.