4 Oct 00

>From an LEO friend in Maryland:

"Confirming that Glock is no longer doing business in the state of Maryland. Neither are any of the other handgun manufacturers, including Browning and even Beretta, which is a Maryland-based company.

Maryland now requires all manufactures shipping a handgun to the state to provide the State Police with a cartridge casing fired from the weapon, so that it can be ‘scanned' (whatever that means) into the State's computer system. Under this system, all shell casings recovered at a crime scene are then 'compared by computer' with all of the recorded casings on file. There is no indication if this has ever been tried or would even work. It is also widely know that, after the gun has been fired a few times, the original cases would provide no useable evidence anyway.

The real reason behind Governor Glendings new law was to do exactly what has been done. Stop the sale of handguns in Maryland, except, of course, to him and his bodyguard staff. We're all so glad that he, at least, is well armed and still safe." /John

4 Oct 00

This from Carl F Starke, president of C&R Ammunition:

"Read about your Friend in a large PD who has been experiencing a problem with the lead free frangible ammunition. Although I do agree that lead free primers have a failure rate in the field, I have to mention that although the frangible bullet is tricky to load, we at C&R ammo have not experienced any problem as long as the loading is with new brass! We do not reload because of the different lengths that any and all manufactures of brass have! Because of this, crimping becomes a problem in that some of the loadings will have a good crimp, some will be over crimped, and then, some will have no crimp at all which sounds like your friend is experiencing! Believe me we learned this the hard way!!!"

/John

4 Oct 00

This from a LEO friend in South Africa. I work with this officer and his agency regularly. He is one of a handful dedicated heroes, without whom no decent training would ever take place:

"We just completed two weeks of scenario training with our new recruits. We use paintball guns in a battery of roll-playing exercises. We included high-risk vehicle stops, confronting EDPs, and arrest and search.

After the first few exercises, trainees became very aware that they could be shot! They learned that cover is a grand ally and sought it without delay, and they learned to use it effectively.

However, many then became 'locked' into the first article of cover they found. Bad guys would subsequently outflank and shoot them with ease. We then had to teach them the subtle art of being ‘aggressively mobile,' using multiple covered positions and moving so swiftly that they became nearly impossible to hit. Combined with superior shooting skills, being aggressively mobile makes one a formidable opponent indeed

I am confident we are teaching them valuable skills. Down here, they'll need them!"

/John