Among the things at once hilarious and alarming to those who understand and support the Bill of Rights—all of it—are the efforts of anti-liberty/gun cracktivists. This includes not only the operatives of anti-gun groups whose normal discourse is shot full of inaccuracies and lies, but the Democrat/socialist/communist (D/s/c) media who usually haven’t a clue of the science and reality of guns, ballistics and every related topic. That doesn’t stop them from grotesquely and purposely misinforming the public on those issues.
Every year at my home blog I update an article that illustrates the point. Years ago a reporter, one Gersh Kuntzman, wrote of the horrors of firing the most powerful, trauma-inducing gun in all of creation: the .223 caliber AR-15, famous for its mild recoil and excellent ergonomics and accuracy. Kuntzman so emasculated himself he became a national laughingstock and even anti-liberty/gun cracktivists wouldn’t return his calls.
Now it seems, the New Jersey legislature has picked up the Kuntzman mantle. They’ve banned—wait for it—hollow point self-defense ammunition.
The Gun Owners of America (GOA), Gun Owners Foundation (GOF) and the Coalition of New Jersey Firearm Owners, alongside plaintiff Heidi Bergmann-Schoch, on February 5 filed a lawsuit challenging New Jersey’s unconstitutional ban on the purpose-made self-defense ammo. Bergmann-Schoch v. Platkin, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, argues that the state’s restrictions violate the Second and Fourteenth Amendments by preventing law-abiding citizens from possessing and carrying the most effective forms of self-defense ammunition available.
“Despite being widely used by law enforcement and civilians across the country for personal protection, New Jersey’s draconian laws prohibit the possession of commonly used hollow-point ammunition outside the home, leaving residents to carry substandard full metal jacket ammunition instead,” GOA said in a press release announcing the action. “The plaintiffs argue that there is no historical precedent for such a ban and cite Heller and Bruen as key Supreme Court decisions affirming their constitutional rights.”
This is another blue state attempt to deprive Americans of their Second Amendment rights through losing nuisance lawsuits they know will take years to reach the Supreme Court. In the meantime, they can harass, bankrupt, even jail law-abiding Americans and who knows? Maybe D/s/cs will somehow take over again, pack the Supreme Court and abolish the Constitution. In the meantime, blue states pretend Heller, McDonald and Bruen have not been decided, don’t say what they plainly say or otherwise don’t apply to blue states.
The irony is, they’ve banned the safest and most effective ammunition available.
These photos are two views of four common 9mm handgun cartridges. The three on the left are hollow points. The one on the right is a fully metal jacketed (FMJ)—commonly called “hardball”--cartridge. Each of the bullets weighs 115 grains. The cartridge at the far left is a Hornady Critical Defense load. The red polymer in the cavity is designed to prevent heavy clothing or anything else from keeping the bullet from expanding, thus maximizing its effectiveness.
That’s ultimately the function of hollow point ammunition. The bullets, upon hitting their animal or human targets, expand like a blooming flower dramatically slowing the bullet, expending all its energy in the target and preventing unintended over penetration.
Handgun ammunition is not remotely as powerful as Hollywood likes to portray. There are numerous cases on record of criminals absorbing ludicrous numbers of handgun bullets and not being markedly impaired. Many survived.
FMJ bullets are not designed to expand. They tend to over-penetrate, merely punching a 9mm-sized hole in their target and flying on to hit whatever is behind. They also have greater ricochet potential under most circumstances. For these reasons, America’s police uniformly use hollow point ammunition. As you can see, various manufacturers believe their designs best meet the purpose—expansion—of hollow point bullets.
I’ll not get into related issues other than to observe the law regulating the use of deadly force is everywhere and generally the same: one may shoot not to kill, but to stop as quickly and effectively as possible the imminent threat of serious bodily injury or death to self or others. One does not shoot to “kill,” but to stop whatever an attacker was doing that authorized the use of deadly force.
To that end, until the invention of Star Trek Phasers, hollow point ammunition remains the safest and most effective choice consistent with the Second Amendment.
Some of those banning that ammunition and praising that ban know that. They don’t care. They’ll do whatever they can to inconvenience and disarm the law abiding, even to see them killed, for political gain and virtue-signaling street cred.
Their ignorance is often funny, but in this case it’s deadly—to the innocent.
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Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.
