01July06

Details from the Johannesburg, SA shooting last week, in which a number of police officers were murdered:

"They stormed the building where the gang was hiding.. Officers wer e armed with Z88s (Beretta 92 copy, built under license). The criminal gang was armed with Kalashnikovs.

R5 patrol rifles are theoretically available, but they are kept in an armor y and are not assigned to individual officers. The check-out process is monotonous and takes forever. Patrol rifles are rarely maintained, and no one ever knows how the sights are set. As a result, officers don't trust them, so they spend their entire useful life gathering dust in the arms room. Ammunition is tediously booked out also, with the result that live-fire pra ctice is unheard of.

... and then we are astonished when our officers are unable to use them effectively!"

Comment: These cops are the latest casualties of SA's restrictive g un policy, a policy that insidiously infiltrates into even police and military

cultures. In fact, the only place restrictive gun policy has apparently ma de scant inroads is the criminal culture. Imagine that! I'm sure leftist politicians and bureaucrats everywhere are astounded.

/John