Key: the same points that make that semi-auto valuable for the police also make them valuable for civilians to use. This brief discussion was written up by Don Kates.
AMERICAN POLICE SEMI-AUTOS.
From the 1960s American police switched to semo-autos. Today this is well-nigh universal but I remember how astonished I was sometime in the 1960s when I saw a Monrovia, CA officer carrying a 1911A1.
Part of the changeover from revolvers came in the ‘60s when increasing violent crime fueled an increasing recognition of how inadequate the .38 special was as a man stopper. Also of great import was the manufacture of the Glock whose simplicity of operation was very attractive to police hierarchies inter alia because it resembled the revolver’s simplicity.
Today virtually all American police carry semi-autos, generally Glocks but some also with the S&W Sigma, a Glock knock off which I prefer to the Glock.
It is notable that police overwhelmingly favor weapons with 14 or more shots. Civilians reasonably ask, if cops (who often patrol in pairs) need that many rounds why civilians should not be so equipped also?
Most police weapons are in 9 mm. parabellum though many are in .40 caliber. As to stopping power, Col. Martin Fackler, MD, an experienced military surgeon who headed the Armed Services' Wound Balistics Institute believes that no handgun is a reliable man stopper. Note an endlessly repeated error: while the evidence is clear that the .38 sp and the 9mm. are inadequate, that does NOT prove larger caliber handguns will suffice.
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