Police used 'dum dum' bullets to kill de Menezes-(incidently, reporters are dum dum)

telegraph ^ | 16/11/2005 | John Steele

[Killing Time]

Let's not forget that the stupid b*stard was running from the police.

No he wasn't. I am all for shooting terrorists in the head repeatedly but Mr de Menezes was, it has emerged, entirely blameless. He wasn't running, he didn't vault the barriers, he wasn't wearing a winter coat on a summers day and his visa was in order.

Just in the wrong place at the wrong time, poor guy.

[USMCPOP]

Why are the press such idiots when it comes to firearms? The whole point of hollowpoints, at least in a police scenario, is STOPPING power, not necessarily to kill. Get the perp stopped immediately before he can take out anyone else. As for military use, well, we have grenades and bombs, which expand even better.

[anonymous_user]

It would take 10 shots to the head to get him a job at the Guardian.

LMAO!! Thanks!

[rolling_stone]

yeah lets be sure and just use the politically correct bullet to kill a suspected suicide bomber...how about saving dum dum bullets for stupid journalists?

[anonymous_user]

I've never understood the logic of the military not using hollow points.

My guess is that military rounds are designed to maim, tie up resources, medics, demoralize the troops, etc. (Kind of interesting that was brought about by "humane" rules of warfare.) Law enforcement bullets, I would again guess, are designed to incapacitate people quickly.

[Deguello]

The real Dum Dum was when the British first armed their WWII fighter aircraft with 303 machineguns.

[Horatio Gates]

That and also to prevent rounds going through the bodies and going down range to unintended targets

[CommandoFrank]

"...seven bullets were fired into Mr de Menezes's head and one into his shoulder. "

Let's face it... the man did not suffer!

[Selous]

The author of this piece is ill-infomed. Neither so-called "dum dum" nor hollow points were used in the incident.

The rounds were modified "glasers", customarily used in close quarter situations where there is significant risk of a "shoot through" such as aircraft cabins and other confined spaces.

These rounds are, basically, conventional 9mm modified by way of a gelatin-tip filled with around 15-20 PTFE (Teflon) pellets.

[The Great RJ]

Of course the terrorists who spiked their bombs with nails are exempt from the Hague convention.

[r9etb]

A google search on "hoolow" didn't return much, but it did return a hit on this thread. Perhaps the British police were merely attempting using hoolows to "make him become shinigami again." That would have been nice of them, IMO.

[Jaxter]

Dumdum-ing your own bullets is so fifties...

[Tarpon]

Jimmuh Carter is a dum-dum, didn't know they named a bullet after him.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

"I've never understood the logic of the military not using hollow points."

My understanding of rationale behind prohibiting ammo, which expands in the body, (hollow-point ammo is not mentioned in the Geneva Convention) is to reduce the amount of maiming. Too many arms and legs were being lost due to soft point ammo. Full metal jacket bullets will leave a cleaner wound, and result in far fewer amputations. The enemy is taken out of action (for a while at least) -- but is less likely to be permanently maimed.

[UnklGene]

[School of Rational Thought]

"I'll likely start a flame war over this, but the inability to use hollow points is a prime cause of the failure of the 9mm round in Iraq. I carry 9mm hollow point every day and have no worries about its effectiveness in bringing a bad guy down. I'd never carry 9mm ball, though."

Ditto. I carry 9mm hollow points and am not concerned of stopping a threat. The Muslims in Iraq are also very high on drugs too.

[School of Rational Thought]

"Why are the press such idiots when it comes to firearms?"

Why is anyone adamantly ignorant. Even on this board, poster constantly confuse magazines with clips.

[dsc]

"As a matter of fact he was not."

Well, now I don't know what to think. I don't, however, accept the Scotsman article at face value.

[AdamSelene235]

've never understood the logic of the military not using hollow points.

I'm guessing its a matter of cost.