Another staged gun photo-op
Yesterday, January 27, saw an extraordinary event at the old Columbus Police Academy. Members of the city administration, led by City Council Member Michael Mentel spoon fed local media a “photo-op” firearms demonstration that was closed to the public. There, he had police representatives showing off firearms far less powerful than those used for hunting, as well as fully-automatic guns from the city’s SWAT arsenal — the latter of which is illegal to own in the U.S. — all for the purpose of saying how Columbus must rid the streets of so-called “assault weapons” in order to protect children and law enforcement. The hyperbole was extensive.
The actual article eats it up:
The dummy was dressed in a bulletproof vest that kept the bullets from going completely through, yet a bullet from a police service pistol caused a 1½-inch-deep impression, and a 12-gauge shotgun blast left a 4-inch crater.
“That would probably kill the officer,” Winship said.
Then came the rifles.
Because the guns are so powerful, the officers fired them outside to avoid damaging a steel wall at the back of the indoor range.
Fired from 45 yards away, bullets from the military-style rifles easily penetrated the vest on the dummy. The bullets even penetrated quarterinch-thick (sic) steel plates.
The rifles fired were an SKS, an AK-47 and an AR-15. Officer Floyd Wise said the AR-15 is included in the Columbus SWAT unit’s arsenal.
CNN got in trouble for this a while back and issued a retraction.
February 2nd, 2005 at 6:49 pm
You’d Think They’d Have Learned By Now
Say Uncle has a post up that might seem familiar to you. Local cops put on a “demonstration” for the press involving firearms. They start off with shooting handguns at a bullet resistant vest & finish by shooting rifles at…