Life and Death > Weaponry

My Duty Weapon

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JIM DOHERTY:
Just to get this brand new topic started:

At last week's Bouchercon, I was assigned to the Spillane memorial panel, "It Was Easy - The Life and Hard-Boiled Legacy of Mickey Spillane."

The question came up about how practical a weapon, given the necessity for concealment, Mike Hammer's .45 was.

I mentioned at that point that one of the ways I've been influenced by Mickey is that my duty weapon of choice is a .45, though, unlike Hammer's, mine's hi-cap and double-action.  (Godzilla was right.  Size does matter.)

What do the rest of the coppers and ex-coppers on the site carry?  And can you carry what you choose in your departments or do you have to settle for what the agency either issues or mandates?

JIM DOHERTY

Lee Lofland:
Hi Jim. Sorry I missed you at Bouchercon. I was at a meeting during the time of your panel. My panel, Murder Really Bugs Me with Jan Burke and Hallie Ephron was on Friday. Oh well, next time.

Our department issued Ruger 9mm (before that we carried .357s), but everyone had the choice to carry their own weapon as long as it was a 9mm. We also had to qualifiy with it on the range. I carried my personal weapon, a Sig Sauer 9mm. Now, they carry .45 Glocks.

I must say that a 9mm does not have great stopping power (I learned that the hard way). I think you're carrying the right sidearm.

JIM DOHERTY:
Lee,

I was really sorry to miss you, too.

I planned to go to your panel, but was asked to be a panel monitor at the short story panel opposite yours, and agreed before I realized that there was a conflict.

I thought we might cross at Joe Wambaugh's talk, but that was not to be either.

Did meet another cop/writer named Jim Born.  Are you familiar with him?

Re your weapons choice:  I think one of the reasons everyone went with the 9mm when there was the shift from revolvers to automatics was precisely because there wasn't that much of a kick.  With a larger number of women entering the field, many of whom don't have the familiarity with firearms growing up that boysare more likely to get, and who are, as a group, smaller-framed than men, the choice was to stick with medium caliber because it was easier to train with.

Lest I be misunderstood, I don't mean for anyone to infer that women are incapable of learning how to shoot.  In fact, many firearms instructors find that women, precisely because they don't come into training with preconceived notions, are often easier to train than men.

JIM DOHERTY

Lee Lofland:
No, I didn't meet Jim (the other one). I was pretty busy with some other non-conference related things so I didn't get a chance to hang out much. My wife and I did get to spend a little time with a few old friends - SJ Rozan, Lee Goldberg, Hallie Ephron, Rhys Bowen, Jan Burke, Lori Armstrong, and Bill Cameron. That's always fun. I really would have liked to have met some of the MWF folks. Is anyone planning to attend LCC in Seattle?

Back to weapons. I agree with Jim - size does matter where handguns are concerned. I recall one quite petite female police officer (and this could apply to a small man as well) who couldn't reach the trigger (of the department issue 9mm) with her index finger and was forced to qualify by using her middle finger. She passed, but her shots weren't very accurate. She ended up purchasing a LadySmith 9mm which is a smaller frame pistol. After that she did fine.

JIM DOHERTY:
Lee,

Jim Born's a Florida DLE Agent.  He started out as a Deputy US Marshal, then transferred to DEA before becoming a state cop.

His website's here:

http://www.jamesoborn.com

He conducted the Q&A with Wambaugh at Wambaugh's presentation.

Nice guy.  I've never read any of his books but I'm going to make a point of it now.

JIM DOHERTY

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