Happy New Year All!

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

Remember when anti-gunners and main stream media mocked the NRA and anyone that supported the belief that armed guards or police at schools or Heaven forbid allowed teachers to arm themselves?

When NRA's Wayne LaPierre held that news conference you would think that the NRA had suggested that all teachers and students be forced to carry a gun.

Well, here we go very quietly people are beginning to agree. In a previous post I cited where the Interpol Chief said that to combat terrorism that an armed citizenry was one of the two solutions (the other was lockdown). Now here is another agreement that won't be covered in the news, but at least they are not attacked as a right wing nut job (RWNJ).

I post it here should it disappear from existence. Source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/10/27/nevada-school-shooting-police-review/3281441/

Below are the highlights in case you don't want to read the whole article:

Mo Canady, executive director of the National Association of School Resource Officers, said school shootings happen quickly, and an "ideal scenario" would be to have an officer based at every school. But he acknowledged there are financial limitations to that plan.

"It's difficult to be effective when you're patrolling," he said. "The majority of the shootings are over before outside law enforcement can respond. If you're waiting for outside help, the shooting is over, it's such a short time frame.

Yeah, umm...isn't that EXACTLY what the NRA has been saying?????
And funding....wasn't the NRA offering to help setup and fund a national progam????
How outrageous.
That "gun free zone" sign not working? Weird.

RENO — Millions of dollars worth of new security fencing, hundreds of hours of training and dozens of school police officers could not stop the unimaginable at Sparks (Nev.) Middle School last week — a student with a gun who was willing to use it.

For unknown reasons, 12-year-old Jose Reyes arrived at the schoolyard early Monday with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun and opened fire at math teacher Michael Landsberry and two students. Landsberry died at the scene, and Reyes fatally shot himself in the head.

By most accounts, the response by school officials and local law enforcement helped to limit the number of injuries and fatalities.

Washoe County (Nev.) School District Police Chief Mike Mieras said they'll review what happened to see whether any changes to protocols are needed for dealing with violence at the district's 93 schools.

"Schools are still the safest place for kids to be," said Mieras. "We had procedures in place, and the teachers stepped up. But every time there's an incident here or anywhere in the nation, we look at what happened and ask ourselves, 'What do we have in place and what should we do differently?'

"You can always improve on everything," he said.

Mo Canady, executive director of the National Association of School Resource Officers, said school shootings happen quickly, and an "ideal scenario" would be to have an officer based at every school. But he acknowledged there are financial limitations to that plan.

"It's difficult to be effective when you're patrolling," he said. "The majority of the shootings are over before outside law enforcement can respond. If you're waiting for outside help, the shooting is over, it's such a short time frame.

“We had procedures in place, and the teachers stepped up. But every time there's an incident here or anywhere in the nation, we look at what happened and ask ourselves, 'What do we have in place and what should we do differently?'”
— Police Chief Mike Mieras, Washoe County (Nev.) School District
"When someone has made up their mind that they're going to take someone else's life, that is the most difficult thing for us to stop."

The school district's police force has 38 officers who oversee 118 school sites. One officer is in charge of patrolling five schools in the Sparks Middle School area, Mieras said. The district only has officers on-campus at the high schools, he said. Officers patrol around the elementary and middle schools, he said.

When asked whether his force is understaffed, Mieras said "in an ideal world" he would have more officers, but from his perspective, "we are ahead of the game" in terms of providing a safe environment for children.

Like Washoe County, most school districts across the country have been unable to post an officer at every school, Canady said. The school resource officers' association has counted about 98,000 school buildings in the country, while there are roughly 10,000 to 14,000 school officers, he said.

The Washoe school district has made a list of safety improvements in recent years that, coupled with officers, keep the campuses safe, Mieras said. These include a $4.8 million fencing project and new locks on all doors. They've also implemented regular emergency response training sessions for staff.

STORY: Nevada school shooting victim was 'trained to help'

When shots rang out at the middle school, the reaction began within seconds:

• The Sparks Police dispatchers handled a flood of calls for help while also trying to obtain information about the exact location of the shooter.

• A Sparks police and a school patrol officer arrived at the scene within three minutes of the initial call and were soon aided by Reno police, Washoe County Sheriff's deputies and Nevada Highway Patrol.

• School staff reacted by placing the school in lock down, shuttling the students to a secure location.

GAN NEVADA SCHOOL SHOOTING 102713 2
A police officer stops traffic Monday, Oct. 21, 2013, after the shooting at Sparks Middle School.(Photo: David Calvert, Getty Images)
Math teacher Joe Paraz told a 911 dispatcher that students had run inside the building saying they "had a gun pointed at them, so we locked down the building," according to the emergency response tapes. The dispatcher assured Paraz that police, fire and medical personnel were on the way.

"As long as you guys know (about the shooting), we're happy," Paraz told the dispatcher.

Sparks police Lt. Erick Thomas said the fact that the shooting occurred at 7:16 a.m. meant that more personnel were on duty — the day-shift begins work at 6 a.m. and graveyard shift gets off at 8 a.m.

"It was helpful to have that overlap," he said.

As officers from different agencies arrived, they began communicating on one radio channel as they tried to identify the location of the violence, surround that area and then begin to evacuate those who were trapped in and around the school, he said. All have ongoing "active shooter" training so their response was synchronized.

Agents stationed in Reno, Nev., from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were not on the scene in Sparks, though they have always responded to mass shootings in the region.

Identifying warning signs of potential violence

Signs that a child may be troubled and possibly violent:

• Has a violent past and/or has brought a weapon to school

• Has tantrums and outbursts of anger and makes violent threats when angry

• Exhibits antisocial behaviors from a young age and has few or no close friends

• Is abusive to animals

• Is preoccupied with weapons or violence

• Has been a victim of abuse or neglect, and/or has witnessed domestic abuse or violence

• Lacks proper adult supervision

Sources: Guide for Preventing and Responding to School Violence, International Association of Chiefs of Police and the Bureau of Justice Assistance