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Where Is The Objectivity In Media Reports About Guns In America?
Reference Article Here: Felton Pointed Loaded Gun at Me: Wife.
It has been dubbed by some as the "Cop Killer:" The FN Five-seveN 5.7 x 28mm. There's nothing new about the 5.7, its been in production for quite some time now. But, what is new however, is the assumption made by the writer of the above article regarding the type of cartridges that were supposed to have been found in the Five-seveN owned by New York Nicks point guard, Raymond Felton. As the story goes, Raymond, pointed his 5.7 at his estranged wife, Ms. Ariane Raymondo-Felton (apparently, she recently filed for divorce).
The details about how the muzzle ended up being pointed at Ms. Felton, are very much unclear, as the writer never seems to get a grip on reality long enough to help the ready understand exactly what took place. But, the facts of the matter don't seem to be the real point of the story.
The real story seems to be that Raymond, did not just point is Five-seveN at his estranged wife, but that he pointed "a huge armor piercing pistol" that "was one of the largest made."
In my research of hand guns for home defense and personal defense, I came across FN Herstal and have communicated with them directly by phone about some of their products and their manufacturing processes related to QC/QA, materials selection, design philosophy and few other dimensions of manufacturing and production that were of particular interest to me personally.
So, I knew that when authors Larry Celona, Natasha Valez and Jamie Schram, of the New York Post, claimed the all plastic body and polymer coated metal slide design of the Five-seveN to be "one of the largest made," that they had not done their homework as journalists. A somewhat typical knee-'jerk' and predictable modality for journalists more interesting in frying someone in the public's eye, rather than actually getting their facts straight.
Yes, the overall length of the 5.7 is 8.2 inches. However, the design is an all-polymer construction including a polymer body and ploy-coated metal action with some metal internal components that would be expected in any modern day poly-pistol architecture. Overall weight is 1.46lbs and the barrel length is 4.41in. There are plenty of modern day pistols with longer barrels, wider plan-form-factor and greater overall weight.
I could come at this story from a myriad different angles. I could talk about the legal, political and social aspects of this story. Given my background, I might even be able to offer some insight into how this story most probably come about. But, I won't do any of that. Instead, I want to focus on just two aspects of this story that caught my attention:
- Armor piercing claims
- Turning the gun into Godzilla
The SS 195LF and SS 197SR, are the only two loads available to civilians, as all other cartridges for the FN Five-seveN are either outright discontinued or sold for M&P purposes only. The article above makes no mention of which cartridge type was discovered in the Five-seveN delivered to the police by Ms. Felton. What we do know however, is that FN SS 190 cartridge which was capable of penetrating the NIJ III vest, has also been discontinued and the SS 195 and SS 197, did not manage to penetrate any NIJ III vest in test conducted in multiple controlled studies.
Rather than focus on the facts of the criminal charges against Raymond Felton, as they particularly relate to so-called "criminal possession of a weapon in the second, third and fourth-degrees," the authors found it more relevant to discuss the alleged lack-luster performance of the New York Nicks point guard instead. The authors make the claim that some third-party alleges that Raymond Felton, was "charged" because the "gun was not legal." Yet, we have no details about the aspect(s) of the gun that made it illegal under New York State's SAFE Act.
Allegations and innuendo don't cause cartridges to become self-evident "Cop Killer" bullets, nor do alleged statements of Law Enforcement Officers involved in the investigation, that the FN Five-seveN was "one bad *** gun." I personally shot a Dan Wesson 1911 45 ACP this past Saturday, and I too thought it was a "bad *** gun." However, it does not violate the New York State SAFE Act, nor did it contain any "armor piercing" rounds. But, of course, I'm not a current point guard for the New York Nicks, either.
On the matter of building up the gun to the point of it becoming god-like, the writers could not have been more transparent. Labeling a gun "big," throws off connotations to the uninformed that somehow the gun is more deadly. Second, as far as I know, there is no such thing as an "armor piercing gun." Guns don't pierce armor, bullets pierce armor and unless Felton, was in possession of loads that are not for sale to Civilians, then point is purely speculative at best, as neither of the .224 195 or 197 rounds are capable of piercing standard issue NIJ III vests.
And, what does the 2008, Plaxico Burress case have to do with Raymond Felton, I will never know - except to cast all NBA players into a sort of guilt-by-association dragnet, whenever guns are involved.
A couple questions come to mind in closing:
(1) If it was Ariane, who turned-in the Five-seveN and not Raymond, how do the police know for certain that she did not arrange to have the illegal armor piercing FN SS 190 cartridges in the magazine before she arrived at the police station?
(2) Allegedly, Ariane, simply appeared at a New York police station (somewhere) with a loaded "Cop Killer" gun in her hands. How did she manage to physically approach a police station with a "Cop Killer" gun in her hands and with 20 rounds in the magazine with one in the pipe? Did she just get out of her car, walk over to the station and announce what she was doing with a gun in her hand? I'd like more details on her physical approach to the station.
(3) Where did the effective armor piercing rounds come from - there were illegal for sale to Civilians?
(4) If the magazine contained FN SS 195 or FN SS 197 rounds, then they were not "armor piercing" and thus not illegal in the State of New York and the New York Post owes Mr. Raymond Felton, a retraction story with the proper headline. Will they print such a retraction and do they have the balls to do it?
Again, I could have approached this story from a number of different angles, but I think the villainization of both Raymond and the FN Five-seveN, has to be called for what it is. Whether or not the magazine capacity was 10 or 20, is not the point. The first paragraph of the story by the New York Post, was that the "gun was armor piercing" which is the dumbest thing I've heard about guns in a quite a while. I've never witnessed a "gun" jump up and pierce and ear by itself, let alone NIJ Class III body armor.
Now, where did I put my "Cop Killer" Gammo C-15 .177 BB Blow-Back pistol with its unlimited magazine capacity. I know it's here somewhere... I just have to find it. I want to point the muzzle at someone I know absolutely hates my guts, so I can get myself arrested and ruin my professional career. All because I was stupid enough to leave my .177mm armor piercing monster of a BB gun laying around the house - to be hand delivered to the police (fully loaded!) when my back was turned - by the one who hates my guts the most.
This whole story makes no sense to me, whatsoever.
The authors need to get a clue and the readers of their "journalism" need more accurate information than the authors have been wiling to give on this story. Truth is not subject to the opinion of people who could care less about its existence. It persists whether or not they care or pay homage to it.
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