The Morning Report
Get the news and information you need to take on the day.
Friday, April 20, 2007 | In re: Shortage of cops’ ammo.
I find the shortage aspect of this story hard to believe and suspect there is more smoke than fire in any alleged shortage of the 9mm or .223 ammo used by cops.
Perhaps if their buyers went to the Del Mar Gun Show quarterly, they would be able to stock up on all the cartridges they need. There are plenty there, from a variety of vendors. In addition to that, the SDPD and other agencies should return to what they once did in regards to ammunition: reload the cases.
Even their Glock, Beretta, Sig and (regrettable) Ruger automatics can use carefully refabricated cartridges for practice and save the plus p, 147 grain hollow points for street use. Practice with arms has far more to do with conditioning reflexes and eye/hand coordination than absorbing recoil and at the absurdly long fifty yard line that cops practice on, ammunition characteristics between well made reloaded cartridges and the standard ones are hardly worth mentioning.
And if the cops really can’t hack the lack of 9mm rounds, they can always go back to their venerable .357 revolvers. This is not a milspec round and there should be no shortage there.
And besides, the revolvers were cheaper when bought by the dozen, last longer and require less intensive maintenance, thus saving the SDPD money in the long run.