I don't usually criticize other gun bloggers, but I feel that I must when I see something posted that I think is just wrong. The article is titled: "Why Many Agencies are Switching to the 9mm." This set my expectations too high. Maybe I am just grumpy today or just tired of the endless caliber wars/stopping power debates on the internet. Or maybe it is because he calls law enforcement adoption of the 40S&W a conspiracy (read on!)

This article which is actually an opinion piece on why he carries 9mm and feels justified because some law enforcement have switched back to 9mm. For the record, a lot of LE never stopped. I would be surprised if 9mm isn't the #2 carried LE round. Here is the link to the article I am quoting: http://www.usacarry.com/why-agencies-switching-9mm/?utm_source=USA+Carry&utm_campaign=0282c2f3fb-Why+Many+Agencies+are+Switching+to+the+9mm&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_2bd92c16fa-0282c2f3fb-47605009.

With the title "Why Many Agencies are Switching to the 9mm" I was expecting an article about the possible shift in law enforcement to 9mm. I have been predicting it for a while due to ammo availability and cost. If you were looking for facts or figures - there aren't any. The law enforcement references are anecdotal at best:

The fact is, law enforcement in Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota, and Colorado are just a few of the places switching.

That doesn't really help. That doesn't look like "many" to me. Is there actually a shift. We will never know from this because that's as specific as he gets.

Not quoted, but I do absolutely agree with the logic he gives: more capacity, lower recoil, less expensive ammo. And of course I agree with shot placement being king.

After that he loses me:

I’ve been carrying 9mm for years and have had plenty of “macho” folks comment to me that I carry a “weaker” round. However, my so-called “weaker” round is a 124-grain Speer Gold Dot, which I’m confident will stop any threat I may encounter. So if you’ve been thinking of switching to a 9mm, don’t let others talk you out of it and realize that many law enforcement agencies are now “seeing the light” and coming back to the 9mm too.

Uh, what? I don't care what you carry or what other people think about what you carry. Why do YOU care? Caliber-wars are silly. What happened to this being about law enforcement?? The last sentence is a vague tie-in that I guess we are to presume that if its good enough for some non-identified law enforcement agencies ("many") that it must be good enough for us? Or perhaps vice versa - since I carry it, 9mm is good enough for LEAs? Well, if it makes the author feel better I think he has chosen a very good round.

The article gets even weirder:

"In fact, the only reason that the police switched from 9mm to .40 in the first place was because of the Assault Weapons ban of 1994. The 1994 law banned the production of high capacity magazines, however, you could still sell “pre-ban” magazines. So the gun manufacturers went to police departments and offered big incentives to upgrade to the .40 so they could get the departments to turn in the high capacity 9mm magazines that they could resell for a huge profit.

Really? The "ONLY" reason? Wow.
The company known as "S&W" (a registered trademark which I am not affiliated with) and Winchester designed the 40S&W in 1990. The 40S&W was actually predated by several 40-caliber rounds that didn't meet with commercial success. My favorite is the .41AE (Action Express) designed by Evan Whildin of Action Arms Ltd (former importers of Uzi) back in 1986! And even before that (in the 70s) there was the 40G&A. I guess according to the author that all these folks were psychic to the Assault Weapons Ban that would happen, much later, in 1994.

Anyway, not to get into the "stopping power" debate, let's just say there were other reasons for the 40S&W and its adoption.

A quick one (reason 1), which is not conducive to the author's entire argument, is the famous "Miami FBI Shootout" and its famous "that-should-have-been-fatal" shot. That incident caused the FBI to reevaluate and drop the 9mm as the agency adopted round.

That event ended up giving us the mighty 10mm as the FBI and other agencies official round. Since the FBI 10mm was downloaded anyway folks figured that they could squeeze it into a smaller package and the 40S&W was born. HEY...that's two reasons that the .40S&W came to be! (reason 2)

I am not going to even comment on the magazine statements. Pure conjecture at best. But, if you count it, it makes reason 3! :)

But, for reason #4 the 40 was adopted so rapidly by law enforcement (and my personal belief) is timing. High-capacity semi's were coming of age (and reliable) and revolvers for law enforcement had been on its way out since the mid to late 80's. This spawned the great 9 vs 45 aka light vs fast aka capacity caliber wars. The 40S&W was right smack in the middle - capacity, bullet weight, bullet diameter, and fit into (modified) smaller 9mm framed pistols unlike the 10mm and 45ACP which are built on larger platforms. A superb compromise and a round that works! What you will not find is anyone saying that the 40 is ineffective and that they are switching back to 9mm.

To cement his point the author concludes:

In other words, it wasn’t because the .40 was a miraculous new round, it’s because gun manufacturers wanted to make money and so they made the police departments an offer they couldn’t resist.

Maybe I am too sensitive but to me that reads like he is insulting the firearms industry by claiming a conspiracy, and basically calling law enforcement gullible. You know that law enforcement were exempt from the magazine ban right? They could have kept the 9mm. Manufacturers could have just replaced all their mags with LE stamped ones. No, no, no, it probably was easier, quicker, and cheaper to make entirely new mags for them. Whatever.

My take on this whole 9mm vs 40 vs 45 debate? Simple...
Bullet technology has advanced by leaps and bounds in the last 10 years. Gone are the days of the "picky" auto-loader that wouldn't feed HydraShoks (well, mostly gone)!

With equal quality bullets defensive rounds are pretty much equal. The bulk of ballistic data (take your pick of sources: shootings, cadaver analysis, ballistic gel tests) indicates that 9mm, 40S&W, 357Sig, and 45ACP ALL perform very closely. So, carry what you want! Just don't skimp on the ammo, if you can find it. And goodness, don't care what other people think! Just practice as much as you can. A hit with a .22 is better than a miss with a .45, or that 10mm you left at home.

Of course, we are talking about the best defensive ammo. What happens if you only have hardball? As they say in the car motor world: There ain't no replacement for displacement! LOL