I routinely receive officer safety information and other types of tactical tips from a wide variety of LEOs out there. Earlier this week, I received a memo (information originating from a large East Coast agency) which I immediately wanted to pass along to all the officers across the United States who visit Police1.
Having now received permission from the individual who wrote the advisory — I’ve deliberately not used his name or department as he did not specify that I could do so — let’s talk a little bit about improvised concealed firearms. First off, let’s look at the image from this week’s memo.
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As the Unclassified/FOUO/LES document read, “This weapon can appear to be a common key ring, a vehicle remote controller or MP3 player. It can be carried in a pocket or around the neck. It recently gained attention due to it being the murder weapon in a night club shooting. The firearm is four inches in length and is capable of firing two 32 caliber rounds. The ring on the base of the gun is twisted to cock the weapon and there are two trigger buttons. The Key Ring Gun is not very accurate with such a short barrel but at close range it has proven to be lethal. This concealable firearm poses yet another threat to law enforcement officers.”
For centuries, armorers’ handmade firearms had varying degrees of accuracy at any long range, but at bad-breath distance were plenty “good enough” to be deadly.
Today, we have easy-to-get machinery which illegal (albeit enterprising) manufacturers can secret in their barn or their basement, cranking out black-market guns such as the one seen above.
Further, individual violators — when sufficiently motivated — can make their own, one-of-a-kind gun which is just as deadly as one of those “cottage industry” items out there in number.
The point here, of course, is to carefully inspect any and all articles found on a subject, and to be aware of the fact that even a subject who appears compliant can turn deadly in an instant.
Trust your gut, call for back-up, search your subject and don’t be insulted when your backup insists on doing another search. Use proper contact/cover tactics, and always, always, always, watch the hands!
One last note: If your PD sends out email advisories to officers with information which may be of particular use to officers outside your agency, please consider sending that stuff to me directly via email. This is equally useful for when you have your own, individually-created information but do not want to post it as a Member Tip.
Just advise as to whether or not your information is “open source” — meaning that it’s widely available around the Internet, and therefore not something we need to password protect — or it’s something like today’s item, which is accessible here on the site only by Police1 Members who we’ve actively confirmed to be LEO / LEO (ret.).
Stay safe out there.
— Doug Wyllie, Police1 Editor in Chief
