9mm handguns had replaced .38 Specials in most department long before the North Hollywood incident, especially in LA. 9mm's aren't much more than high speed, lighter weight .38s in the first place, fired from semi-automatics instead of revolvers.
Like the song from Porgy & Bess says, it ain't necessairly so. And I don't think that any one would suggest that civilians join a pitched battle between perps and cops. Stay low and stay covered unless directly confronted by the perps would be the best advice.
Teflon coated ("cop person") bullets will NOT penetrate body armor, especially the type the NH perps were wearing. They had actual metal reinforced plates in the vests and on the leg pads. The cops actually went to a local gun store and borrowed some hunting rifles. IIRC, what took the perps down were shots that found their way through the chinks in the body armor. One of them actually bled out from wounds to the upper thigh or groin (went out sing soprano).
Repeat the refrain from Porgy & Bess.
The perps had been previously arrested with the illegal weapons that they later used in the attempted bank heist. They were released on a technicallity and the illegal weapons were returned to them!! Gun control MIGHT work if it were applied to the criminals rather than to honest citizens. Neat screen name, Bo. Do you have a 29 mule team to go with it?
-- "If violent crime is to be curbed, it is only the intended victim who can do it. The felon does not fear the police, and he fears neither judge nor jury. Therefore what he must be taught to fear is his victim." . . Jeff Cooper -- Kent Finnell, from the Music City, USA
