Jim's Gun

[hoosier]

I was re-watching Under the Gun over the weekend and Jim said his gun was a 38 Smith and Wesson service revolver. On the Pilot,he was carrying an automatic(9mil or something to that effect), anyway I was wondering--most cops these days carry automatic weapons,like 9mils or Glocks,guns with more firepower. Did Jim make a concession to the department to carry a weapon that had less power or was it a stipulation of the department that he had to carry a revolver if he was to carry a gun at all?

[housemouse]

hoosier said:

I was re-watching Under the Gun over the weekend and Jim said his gun was a 38 Smith and Wesson service revolver. On the Pilot,he was carrying an automatic(9mil or something to that effect), anyway I was wondering--most cops these days carry automatic weapons,like 9mils or Glocks,guns with more firepower. Did Jim make a concession to the department to carry a weapon that had less power or was it a stipulation of the department that he had to carry a revolver if he was to carry a gun at all?

All right Hoosier, you are sooo my people. Anyone who can think that hard about an episode of my favorite show has got to be a fabulous person!

On the subject of your post. That is a great question. They made it very clear in the pilot that it was hard enough to convince the NYPD to take him back, much less carry a gun. My theory would be that they had received so much negative publicity from his lawsuit to get his job back, that when he mentioned carrying a gun they did what they could to placate him, and feel a little more comfortable with a blind man being armed. Although, as I type this I realize it might have been to the department's advantage had Jim gone public with the whole gun issue. I think people may have felt sympathetic toward a blind man trying to get his job back; but a blind man carrying a gun, that is a whole different story.

[hoosier]

How true about the department. The reason I wonder about this was with a revolver you have to either load each bullet individually or with a speed loader while an automatic uses a clip. For a blind person (or those of us
who just a plain clumsy ) loading a revolver in a hurry would be a pain. Also an automatic holds more rounds ,if I remember correctly,and fires more rapidly.
Anyhoo, I just thought it was odd that Jim would volunteerly opt for a less powerful and less easily loaded weapon.

[carl1951]

It's a belly gun.
Later, Carl

[kytdunne]

Checked with a friend and he says a 9mm and .38 are similar bore. A bit more research online came up with an article regarding weapons for home defense that may shed more light on the debate.

www.chuckhawks.com/guns_home_defense.htm

Points of interest:

An autoloader can deliver very rapid fire, but remember that you can't miss fast enough to win a gunfight.
...
Autoloading pistols are more likely to jam than a revolver, particularly if fired through cloth, say from under a bathrobe in a sudden emergency, from an unusual orientation (upside down for instance), or with a "limp wrist" (insecure hold). They have one other very significant drawback: they are magazine fed and the spring in a loaded magazine is tightly compressed. Magazines should be rotated regularly. The spring in a loaded magazine left unattended for an extended period of time may take a "set" and then lack the pressure to reliably feed cartridges, causing a jam.

and

My top choice for a home defense gun is a revolver. Revolvers usually hold six cartridges, but some hold more. Revolvers are ambidextrous. Perhaps best of all, they can sit fully loaded and untouched for decades, as all springs are normally at rest, and still be ready to go into service at a moment's notice. Just grab the gun and commence firing should the need arise.

...the single action (SA) revolver must be manually cocked before the trigger will fire the weapon. ...Such guns are slow to reload, but powerful, accurate and deadly.
...
The all-around best choice among firearms for home defense is the double action (DA) revolver. These are the typical "police" style revolvers, such as the Colt Python, Ruger GP100, or the Smith and Wesson Model 10 Military and Police. Double action revolvers may be thumb cocked, just like a single action revolver, and then fired by a light pressure on the trigger. This is generally referred to as shooting "single action," and it is the most accurate way to deliver aimed fire. They may also be fired by a single long pull on the trigger, which first cocks and then releases the hammer (trigger cocking or "double action" shooting).

Trigger cocking requires a longer and much heavier trigger pull, but it is fast. Shots can be delivered as rapidly as from an autoloading pistol. It is sufficiently accurate for close range shooting (out to perhaps 7 yards) in trained hands.

Kyt