Saturday, November 27, 2010

Cue hysteria in 5...4...3...2...

So the headline at CNN.com reads:
Hollywood publicist's killer used hollow-point bullet, report says

A 9mm hollow-point? Well that narrows it down! It must have been Mossad or the CIA!

Or, you know, about a third of the police departments* in the US. Or me. (Don't worry, I've got a rock-solid alibi.) Or... say, doesn't the Beverly Hills Police Department issue 9mm SIG P-226's?

Anyhow, perhaps the killer was, like pretty much every law enforcement agency in America, just worried about the danger to the surrounding community if they'd used full-metal-jacket ammunition that could overpenetrate its target?


*The ones that don't use .40 or .357SIG† or .45 because they don't think 9mm is powerful enough...

†Which, when you think about it, would look just like a 9mm to the coroner, what with them using the same bullets and all...

18 comments:

Robert McDonald said...

Saw that too. It made me laugh.

"O.M.G. The killer, like, totally used a dum dum bullet!"

Montie said...

It always amazes me as to how "gun ignorant" the press is. Many are amazed to learn that we (the popo) carry "teh dreaded hollowpoints". Often they will ask "Hey, aren't those banned by the Geneva Convention?"

That aside, I have to say that of the last four gangbanger guns I have personally confiscated (previously convicted felons), three were Hi-Point 9mm's loaded with FMJ ammo. The fourth, a .40 Glock, was loaded with hollow-points. Either they have figured out that Hi-points run best with FMJ or they are too cheap to pop for the higher priced ammo.

Tam said...

Montie,

It has also been my experience that Joe Average Crook's gun is loaded with FMJ 99% of the time, but it's been a few years since I've last seen confiscated guns and ammo.

I was originally going to speculate that this does very nearly rule out J. Random Ganbanger, but then I remembered that Winchester's started selling bulk-packed JHP at Wally World and Gander Mtn. in the last few years and changed my mind...

Wolfwood said...

It's sad to see another pointless killing.

BGMiller said...

"†Which, when you think about it, would look just like a 9mm to the coroner, what with them using the same bullets and all..."

Wait.....you're saying that they wouldn't just hand the slug to some centerfold in a lab coat who would stand in a weirdly/poorly lit ad for Edmund Scientific and pronounce both the manufacturer and model of weapon based solely of the rifling?

But.....

They'll at least use a computer operating at ludicrous speed to flip though a random selection of pics from a reloading manual right?



Sorry. I just had to take a jab at CSI:Bizzaro World.

Tam said...

I wonder...

Do a Glock 17 and a Glock 31 even use different rifling?

Montie said...

BGMiller,

you can't even imagine how much grief the "CSI effect" causes us these days, even with juries. The average person is stunned that we do not have the seemingly magical technology demonstrated each night by the various CSI's and their syndicated re-runs on nearly every channel.

Many are even more suprised to find that around here our lab techs are just that, "lab techs" and do not tote guns, process crime scenes or interview suspects, and that the detectives conversely do not have the run of the lab, being pretty much confined to the "public areas".

Montie said...

Glock 9mm's, right, hexagonal, 1 turn in 9.84"

Glock .357 SIG's,right, hexagonal, 1 turn in 15.98"

perlhaqr said...

Wolfwood: That was beautiful. :)

----

Now, if they determine that it's actually a really nice bullet, like a Speer Gold Dot or a Hydrashok, I'll be really surprised. I mean, who ever heard of a 'banger buying dollar a round ammo?

BGMiller said...

Montie,

Oh I can believe it. I got called for jury duty a couple of years ago and being public minded and all (I wanted the time off from work) I didn't try to weasel out of it.

It was a drug case where the defendants were caught with a couple of kilos of cocaine and had no idea whose it was. Apparently Sumdood hid it in a wood pile and made a path through the snow to their back door. The only part of the whole experience that was anything like any of the police procedurals was the chick from the state crime lab. She was smoking hot and poured forth with the geek speak. Beyond that it was duller than dull. Most of the time was spent by one of the defense attorneys trying to discredit the K9.

Final outcome: 2 dudes to the state penn. and one dude and his chica turned over to ICE.

It was informative.

SiGraybeard said...

Hey... doesn't this make Randy Quaid seem a little less psycho, with his talk about Hollywood hit squads, and applying to Canada for asylum? I mean, what if this publicist lady was killed by a hit squad?

Nah.

WilhelmDurand said...

"One bullet was recovered from her back while at the hospital and is possibly from a 9 mm hollow point,"

Um. "From"? The grammar here suggests to me that they have absolutely no idea what a hollow point is.

Joe in PNG said...

Slightly off topic, but I wonder how many closeted Left wing gun nuts there are in Hollywood/ entertainment? True, they advocate disarment for the rest of America, but they also indulge in a number of things they think we should give up (big cars, large houses, ect).
For instance, James Cameron.

BobG said...

Have the Brady Bunch started with the hysterics yet?

Anonymous said...

"...possibly from a 9 mm hollowpoint" also means possibly not:

"The report also confirmed that investigators found no shell casings at the scene and ..."

Could be a .38 Special out of a revolver too.

Antibubba

Tam said...

I'm giving 'em (possibly unwarranted) credit for being able to tell a .355" slug from a .357" one...

Michael Z. Williamson said...

The RollEyes comment of the entire discussion:

DutchinFla
The hollow Point for the engine block, followed by a lesser caliber round for accuracy and grouping, followed by another hollow point, followed by a regular round for the hit. The hollow point stops the vehicle and allows the Hitter to get within range to make the fatal shot/shots. That's what a pop... more
The hollow Point for the engine block, followed by a lesser caliber round for accuracy and grouping, followed by another hollow point, followed by a regular round for the hit. The hollow point stops the vehicle and allows the Hitter to get within range to make the fatal shot/shots. That's what a popular television show related in a recent episode. If so, this may have been a highly professional hit... or someone who saw the same episode I did

Lame-R said...

Oh, you'd definitely be able to tell if the hole was made by a .357 Sig vs. 9mm: the latter leaves a hole, the former leaves what can best be described as a "canal grande".