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Posted by: MCLEA

High-powered weapon on streets

By Suzanne Smalley, Globe Staff | February 18, 2006

The Boston Police Department is sounding the alarm that a new type of high-powered handgun is on the streets that fires rounds police say can pierce many kinds of bulletproof vests worn by officers.

The department issued a safety alert to officers after two men were shot with the gun in Dorchester and Mattapan last week. The alert, obtained by the Globe, warned that the FN Five-Seven handgun fires the bullets at such a velocity that they ''will punch through your vest, PLATE included."

Yesterday, officers of all ranks expressed concern that the weapon has surfaced in Boston.

''These aren't recreational weapons," Police Commissioner Kathleen M. O'Toole said in an interview. ''This is an example of a gun designed to kill people."

Added one rank-and-file officer: ''The ability to go through a vest . . . it's just way too dangerous. It's real scary."

''It's dangerous as it is," said the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he did not have department permission to speak to the media. ''It just gets compounded with something like that. Your fear level is increased a whole lot more, because the vest that you're wearing is obsolete."

The gun, manufactured by FN Herstal, was first sold in the United States in early 2004. It began appearing in US cities in late 2004, said Gene Voegtlin, the legislative counsel for the International Association of Chiefs of Police. Around the same time, the federal Department of Homeland Security sent out a warning about the gun and ammunition.

The gun is about the same size as the .40-caliber Glock handgun that Boston police use. It is sold to the public, and a slightly different version is sold to the military and law enforcement agencies. The major difference is in the ammunition.

The bullets sold to the military and law enforcement have a steel-hardened tip, making them able to penetrate thicker body armor. Company officials said that the sale of this type of ammunition is tightly regulated.

The bullets available to the public do not have an armor-piercing tip and are designed to fragment upon impact, making them less powerful. Company officials said that while the commercially available ammunition can in rare cases penetrate some body armor used by law enforcement, these bullets cannot pierce other models of bulletproof vests.

Rick DeMilt -- director of sales and marketing for FNH-USA, the US subsidiary of FN Herstal -- said the gun found by Boston police is sold for sporting purposes, such as hunting and competitive sports shooting. It is unclear which kind of ammunition was found by Boston police.

''All guns are dangerous; this one is of particular concern because of the high-powered ammunition," O'Toole said. Officers, she said, should ''be on the lookout" for the weapon.

Officers were not involved in the shootings last week. An internal police intelligence report obtained by the Globe said it was not clear whether the same gun was used in both episodes. The document said that the victim in one shooting was hit multiple times and taken to the hospital in critical condition. Neither shooting has become a homicide, police said yesterday.

The gun has caught the attention of officials in several other cities. In Washington, D.C., last year, police officials joined the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence to decry the availability of the weapon. ''We're certainly deeply concerned about a weapon on the street that could be so potentially lethal," District of Columbia Police spokesman Officer Kenny Bryson said yesterday.

US Representative Christopher Shays of Connecticut sent a letter to US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives officials last year inquiring about the gun, which he said he was ''very concerned" to learn had been seized by police in Trumbull, Conn.

DeMilt said Massachusetts is the only state in the country where his company does not legally sell any of the FN Five-Seven guns or ammunition to the public.

The gun's magazine usually holds 20 bullets, more than those of many handguns, and the sale of ones like it is illegal in Massachusetts.

Company officials defend the gun and said that, when used with the ammunition sold to the public, it is similar to many other handguns on the market. DeMilt said that his company cannot be responsible for illegal sales of the more lethal bullets designed for military and police use.

FN Herstal also makes the pepper-pellet gun that Boston police shelved after Red Sox fan Victoria Snelgrove was shot and killed in October 2004. Her family is suing the firm, and if the Snelgroves win, the city, as part of its wrongful death settlement with the family, would share the award.

Voegtlin said the guns should be illegal everywhere. ''Weapons that don't serve a legitimate hunting or sporting purpose and are designed to defeat or penetrate the body armor worn by police officers don't belong in our communities," he said.

Sid Heal, a tactical operations specialist and commander with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department who has handled the gun, said that the weapon is very powerful, even with bullets available to the public.

Heal also questioned why any company would sell bullets that can pierce body armor. ''What does a person need a pistol that can penetrate a vest for?" Heal said. ''I can tell you the average citizen doesn't."

Andrew Arulanandam, a National Rifle Association spokesman, said that the answer is not to make weapons illegal, but to better police the criminals who use them. ''If these crimes are being perpetrated by criminals who already have an existing record then they should not be in possession of any firearm or any ammunition," he said.

But Heal said the gun is dangerous and difficult to control because of its small size and high power.

''It goes so fast and it's penetrating because the round is so small," Heal said. ''There's rounds that go faster and there's rounds that are more penetrating, but none that I know of that come out of pistols. They come out of rifles."

GLOBE GRAPHIC: New handgun on the block

[img]cid:image001.gif@01C63474.5B0F7C30[/img] For more information on the gun, go to http://www.fnherstal.com/html/Index.htm and click on
'Small arms' > 'Handguns' > 'Five-seveN'

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Posted by: RPD931

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Posted by: JoninNH

Quote:

Originally Posted by MCLEA High-powered weapon on streets By Suzanne Smalley, Globe Staff | February 18, 2006 The Boston Police Department is sounding the alarm that a new type of high-powered handgun is on the streets that fires rounds police say can pierce many kinds of bulletproof vests worn by officers.

Can you link me to the Globe article?

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Posted by: Curious EMT

But its not on "the list" so everyone is safe

And it took a year for them to print this story? ATF ruled OK on this firearm over 12 months ago.

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Posted by: USMCMP5811

As it has been said time and time again, by banning firearms, only the criminals will have them....

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Posted by: Killjoy

Quote:

''These aren't recreational weapons," Police Commissioner Kathleen M. O'Toole said in an interview. ''This is an example of a gun designed to kill people."

Of course it is, the ammunition (5.7X2, the pistol, and its accompanying P90 PDW (personal defense weapon) were designed penetrate body armor. This is because standard 9X19mm NATO cannot penetrate the body armor used by most modern armies. Of course, the armor-piercing ammunition is tightly controlled, but that matters little, because this weapon is NOT-mass compliant, so it can't possibly be in the bay state. I'm sure the shooters in Dorchester and Mattapan had their class A LTC's as well.

Quote:

Voegtlin said the guns should be illegal everywhere. ''Weapons that don't serve a legitimate hunting or sporting purpose and are designed to defeat or penetrate the body armor worn by police officers don't belong in our communities," he said.

Of course he fails to mention that any "legitimate" hunting rifle of practically any caliber can penetrate police soft body armor. So guns of any type should be illegal anywhere. Maybe this article should concentrate on the fact that making certain types of weapons illegal is arbitrary and had never been proven to reduce crime in any sense. Why don't we concentrate on prosecuting criminals who use illegal guns in crimes rather than enabling and coming up for excuses for them? Why are the streets of "gun-free" London more dangerous than Detroit or New York?

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