{"id":2035,"date":"2024-04-11T09:48:07","date_gmt":"2024-04-11T09:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/?p=2035"},"modified":"2024-04-11T09:48:07","modified_gmt":"2024-04-11T09:48:07","slug":"the-rationale-for-defensive-hollow-points","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/?p=2035","title":{"rendered":"The Rationale for Defensive Hollow Points"},"content":{"rendered":"


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By Massad Ayoob<\/a><\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s Note:<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0The statements reflected in this piece are the author\u2019s opinion and do not constitute legal advice.<\/em><\/p>\n

E<\/span>ver since hollow point handgun ammunition became readily available in the 1960s, anti-gun and anti-police groups alike have been antagonistic to the concept. In the 1970s, the liberal magazine\u00a0The Nation\u00a0<\/em>published an article titled \u201cThe Vietnamization of Main Street\u201d which decried American law enforcement\u2019s rapid adoption of hollow point duty ammo. The article contained every shibboleth imaginable, with terminology such as \u201cdum-dum bullets\u201d and \u201cbullets shaped like the nacelles of jet engines\u201d and gross exaggerations like \u201cthe bullets don\u2019t explode\u2026you\u00a0<\/em>do!\u201d<\/p>\n

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Hollow point bullets represent a significant portion of the defensive-style ammunition designed for handguns. This Springfield Garrison 9mm 1911 is shown here with Federal Punch ammo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That bunk has been a template for the \u201cantis\u201d ever since. You can find the classic article \u201cDefending the Self-Defense Case\u201d online that appeared some years ago in\u00a0Champion,\u00a0<\/em>the journal of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. It was written by Attorney Lisa Steele, who is generally considered the leading appellate lawyer who specializes in self-defense cases that went wrong at the trial level and resulted in unmeritorious convictions.<\/p>\n

In the article, Steele points out that often, prosecutors who were either clueless or unscrupulous tried to paint the use of expanding bullets as \u201cindicia of malice,\u201d designed to \u201crend and tear and cause unnecessary pain and suffering and greater lethality.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Shown\n<\/picture>
Bullet configurations, from left: round nose, semi-jacketed soft point, semi-jacketed hollow point, and semi-wadcutter. Hollow points are recommended for typical defense purposes. Image:\u00a0Massad Ayoob<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Can this be a problem in court after a legitimate self-defense shooting? Of course it can. Does that mean you shouldn\u2019t load them in your defensive firearms?\u00a0No!<\/em><\/p>\n

It means that you should be able to explain why you chose that ammunition, and explain it in a way that a jury selected by the other side for their lack of knowledge of guns and ammo can understand!<\/em><\/p>\n

Explaining the Use of Expanding Bullets<\/h2>\n

A little bit of history is in order. Back in the 1970s, there was a move within the ACLU to get the police use of hollow points banned. The chosen ground zero was the state of New Hampshire, and taking the point was a very anti-gun state legislator named Dudley Dudley.<\/p>\n

\"In\n<\/picture>
New Hampshire politician Dudley Dudley attempted to ban hollow point ammunition in her state, but was effectively countered by the rational arguments offered by the author. Image:\u00a0Circa 1970s\/Public Domain<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Leading the other side was a legendary New Hampshire lawman named Earl Sweeney, then president of the NH State Chiefs of Police Association. I was a young police firearms instructor and gun writer in that state, and Earl asked me to come in to speak against the pending legislation at the State House.<\/p>\n

Ms. Dudley managed to filibuster until time was almost out, and with only a few minutes of the hearing left, Earl threw me in as the only witness for the police side. I used the following four arguments. As I spoke, I saw that the people on the Committee kept looking at one of their members, an older gentleman, who kept nodding in the affirmative as I spoke. He turned out to be a retired surgeon, a \u201cdominant juror\u201d as it were. When it was over, the Committee voted the anti-hollow point bill \u201cinexpedient to legislate,\u201d and ACLU\u2019s hoped-for flashpoint was dead in the water.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"In\n<\/picture>
Speer G2 147 grain 9mm, with synthetic insert in hollow point cavity, performed well in ballistic gel. Image:\u00a0Massad Ayoob<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The arguments had worked, and I\u2019ve found them to work since in decades of expert witness work in criminal and civil court cases. I offer them to you as follows, not necessarily in order of priority, because order of priority will depend on the particular circumstances of the given shooting incident.<\/p>\n

Hollow Points Reduce the Likelihood of Overpentration<\/h2>\n

Expanding bullets\u00a0reduce the likelihood of a bullet exiting the body of the violent offender to strike an innocent bystander.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many armed encounters occur in poor light; tunnel vision occurs in the majority of such incidents; and the offender\u2019s body may be so close and\/or so large that it simply blocks your view. In a home defense situation or a street encounter with friends and\/or family present, one of your loved ones may be behind the opponent and invisible to you, or even running in behind the assailant to pull him off you.\u00a0In a self-defense shooting, the body of the offender is the only backstop you have!\u00a0<\/em>While nothing is 100% certain, expanding bullets minimize the chance of a shoot-through with fatal results to the innocent.<\/p>\n

\"In\n<\/picture>
Shown here is a Hornady Critical Duty .45 ACP bullet penetration test. The goal of a hollow point bullet is to penetrate enough without over-penetrating. Image:\u00a0Hornady Manufacturing Company<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Full metal jacket rounds in the 9mm Luger, .40 and .45 ACP class can penetrate up to 30\u201d or more of muscle tissue-simulating FBI formula ballistic gelatin. The best hollow points, according to FBI specs, will be over 12\u201d but not over 18\u201d, and in some particularly \u201cbystander-rich environments,\u201d light and fast bullets penetrating perhaps 10\u201d but with wide wound channels might be more suitable.<\/p>\n

Hollow Points Reduce the Likelihood of Ricochet<\/h2>\n

A hollow point bullet also\u00a0reduces the likelihood of a ricochet that could strike an innocent bystander.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Shown\n<\/picture>
The Springfield Armory Prodigy is suitable for competition, home defense and duty carry. It is shown here with Federal Punch 9mm hollow point ammo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The round-nose full metal jacket \u201cGeneva Convention bullet\u201d that the prohibitionists recommend instead is highly likely to ricochet and travel on an unpredictable angle that could strike a bystander, with more than enough residual velocity to kill or cripple. The hollow nose bullet\u2019s tip is shaped like a cookie-cutter: it is much more likely to bite into a hard surface it encounters and bury itself therein, or at least tumble and quickly decelerate, reducing its wounding power.<\/p>\n

Hollow Points Decrease the Delay in Making an Attacker Stop<\/h2>\n

Over several decades, the hollow point bullet has unquestionably proven that\u00a0with hits in the same place and angle, they stop fights sooner.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"In\n<\/picture>
The author instantly killed a large hog with this Federal HST 230 +P hollow point. It created a wide wound track and with ideal penetration through heavy bone and soft tissue. Image:\u00a0Massad Ayoob<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This has been the experience of every single law enforcement agency that has had institutional experience with non-expanding as well as expanding bullets in actual gunfights in the field. The prohibitionists argue, \u201cSo, you want to kill your victim faster!\u201d On the contrary, the very reason the cop and the law-abiding citizen alike are allowed to shoot someone is to stop him from killing or crippling his next intended victim. The sooner he is stopped, the better Society\u2019s good intentions are served.<\/p>\n

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All of the above points are so well-established as to be simply unquestionable. They meet the standard of the Courts as proven to \u201ca reasonable degree of scientific certainty,\u201d under both the old\u00a0Frye\u00a0<\/em>standard and the more recent\u00a0Daubert\u00a0<\/em>standard for admissibility of expert testimony. The final point is subjective enough to be debatable, but I believe the weight of the debate lies solidly on the pro-hollow point side of the argument. That fourth point is this:<\/p>\n

Hollow Point Bullets Are More Humane<\/h2>\n

The expanding bullet is arguably more humane for even the violent criminal who has forced a Good Person to shoot him.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"In\n<\/picture>
Shown here is a police test of bullet penetration. The testing was conducted in Utah using FBI formula ballistic gelatin. Image:\u00a0Massad Ayoob<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How can that be? See the third reason, above. While the criminal may give a fatal\u00a0coup de grace\u00a0<\/em>shot to his murder victim, the Good Person is trained to cease fire as soon as the threat stops. If the hollow point bullet stops the threat faster, it\u2019s obvious that fewer gunshot wounds will have to be inflicted upon him before we can safely stop shooting him. The fewer wounds he has, all other factors being equal, the more likely he is to survive given today\u2019s state of highly advanced emergency medical trauma care.<\/p>\n

The Bottom Line<\/h2>\n

Armed citizens don\u2019t use hollow points just because police do; that would open them to the false allegation of \u201cwanna-be cop.\u201d On the contrary, they use them for\u00a0the same reasons\u00a0<\/em>the police do, reasons articulably beneficial to Society and the safety of the innocent.<\/p>\n

In my opinion, don\u2019t use ineffective, old-fashioned ammunition. Use hollow points and similar expanding bullets for the very good reasons described above, and be able to explain those reasons to those who would judge you.<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s Note: Be sure to check out The Armory Life Forum, where you can comment about our daily articles, as well as just talk guns and gear. Click the \u201cGo To Forum Thread\u201d link below to jump in!<\/em><\/p>\n

Join the Discussion<\/span><\/h5>\n

Go to forum thread<\/a><\/p>\n

Featured in this article<\/span><\/h5>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t9mm<\/sup><\/span><\/span> \n\t\t\t\t\t\"1911\n<\/picture>\n <\/p>\n

1911 Garrison<\/span><\/h3>\n


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\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span> \n\t\t\t\t\t\"1911\n<\/picture>\n <\/p>\n

1911 DS Prodigy\u2122 Series<\/span><\/h3>\n


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\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span> \n\t\t\t\t\t\"Federal\n<\/picture>\n <\/p>\n

Federal Personal Defense Punch 9mm Luger 124 Gr.<\/span><\/h3>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Massad Ayoob Editor\u2019s Note:\u00a0The statements reflected in this piece are the author\u2019s opinion and do not constitute legal advice. Ever since hollow point handgun ammunition became readily available in the 1960s, anti-gun and anti-police groups alike have been antagonistic to the concept. In the 1970s, the liberal magazine\u00a0The Nation\u00a0published an article titled \u201cThe Vietnamization […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2036,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}