Press Stupidity on Guns

Instapundit points out the press is being silly when it comes to the FN Five-Seven. This Wired article actually isn’t too bad, but some interesting tidbits from it:

Gun control group The Brady Campaign says it bought and test-fired a Five-Seven, and that it successfully penetrated a police vest. That said, it doesn’t seem quite accurate to call the Five-Seven a pocket-sized assault rifle. Its barrel would give it a lower muzzle velocity than a PN90; likewise, it strikes me as unlikely that it would give a shooter much more accuracy and effective range than a standard pistol. And plain-vanilla pistol round can be devastating enough: Think of the Virginia Tech shooter, who used a Glock 9mm and Walther .22.

Wired at least seems to know the basics, or did some research before spouting about cop killer guns. The Brady’s once again don’t offer the complete picture. All police armor is not created equal, and I have little doubt the round they used penetrates the lowest level of body armor, which are of the older generation. But so would a hot 9mm round, or a 22 magnum. Also, the round the Brady Campaign tested with is no longer available on the civilian market (or any market, it was discontinued).

ATF shows the ammunition commonly available to civilians does not penetrate typical police body armor.

UPDATE: It has to warm the heart to see a Brady press release over at Opposing Views bringing up the old “magazine” v. “clip” debate in the comments. It’s reminiscent of the old Brady Blog, back in the days before Reasoned DiscourseTM took over.

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3 thoughts on “Press Stupidity on Guns”

  1. I do remember a thread on ar15.com where someone showed that the five seven could penetrate both sides of a level 2 vest, complete with pictures. The Brady report followed a week or two later, probably as a result of viewing that thread. FN then released the ss197 round and discontinued the earlier ammo.

  2. I’ve seen the Brady video of the 5.7×28 “test” they did. They laid a ballistic vest on a bale of hay, and the 5.7 zipped right through it.

    Which under those circumstances, a 9mm would have zipped right through it. For ballistic cloth armor to work, it needs to be backed up by a compressible material such as ballistic gel, human tissue, or ballistic clay. If you suspend a kevlar vest with no backer, a 9mm ball round will likely penetrate it.

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