Harrison Walks Softly, Carries Big Gun

There were few developments over the weekend in the shooting that occurred outside of Marvin Harrison’s bar in Philly. On Friday, the internets were ablaze with the story, but the investigation has been put on hold as police in Philly hunt down a cop killer. Understandable.

In the meantime, CBS’ Mike Freeman brings up a point that I think went through most of our heads on Friday: What the hell is Marvin doing with such a powerful pistol? The gun in question is a Belgian Fabrique Nationale 5.7 (pictured above), which, apparently, is some sort of hand cannon:

"In November (2005) the Homeland Security Department issued an 'Officer Safety Alert' regarding the (BFN 5.7) with the headline 'body armor defeating handgun,'" reported the Associated Press. "The alert said the Trumbull, Conn., police department had seized such a pistol and noted that its bullets were 'advertised as being able to penetrate 48 layers of Kevlar at 50 meters.'"

I can understand why athletes would feel the need to own a gun(s) for protection (although I still disagree with it, but that’s neither here nor there), but a gun that can penetrate bullet proof vests seems a bit excessive. And, according to the FN 5.7 Wikipedia page, its ammo is made for causing the most possible damage:

The Five-seveN's ammunition is designed to hit, travel a few inches, then tumble end over end without deforming. This means that the wound it creates would be as tall as the length of the projectile (more than 21 mm), supposedly creating a more grievous wound channel, but without the expansion of a hollow point or the fragmentation of a frangible bullet.

I’m obligated to insert here that Harrison flatly denies having anything to do with the shooting, but whether he did or not, the point is that owning a weapon like this is only asking for trouble. Besides, what ever happened to good ol’ fashion knife fights? Those always created much smaller, less lethal “wound channels.”

(H/T: Pro Football Talk)

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