Wrong ammo used at protest: Mthethwa

[nightjar]

And it must be really crappy when you're expecting rubber to come flying out your pipe and instead, you see chunks of lead flying out. Along with a rather big kick (SSG vs Rubber -> big difference in recoil).

Nobody who pulls the trigger should be surprised by what comes out.
The first rule is that a user takes a safe weapon and loads it to his satisfaction.
If he does not know what he is using then he is unfit to handle a firearm.

 

[froot]

Nobody who pulls the trigger should be surprised by what comes out.
The first rule is that a user takes a safe weapon and loads it to his satisfaction.
If he does not know what he is using then he is unfit to handle a firearm.

Sadly with our law enforcement a serious problem arises.... the amount of training they receive each year keeps them competent, but not properly so (they get between 50 and 100 rounds for training per year)... and if you pull cartridges out of the "crowd control" cupboard then you're definitely not expecting SSG cartridges.

 

[Hemi300c]

I presume when going out on a police action you need to arrive at your station and draw your automatic weapon out of the store. You will also need to be issued with ammunition as the weapon won't be loaded. Surely any police officers will see the difference. Also they won't only carry one magazine and the spares will be in sight.

I call BS and blame shifting.

 

[froot]

I presume when going out on a police action you need to arrive at your station and draw your automatic weapon out of the store. You will also need to be issued with ammunition as the weapon won't be loaded. Surely any police officers will see the difference. Also they won't only carry one magazine and the spares will be in sight.

I call BS and blame shifting.

During shift change firearms are often just handed to the next cop going on duty. Not always or everywhere, but it's happened way too much for comfort.

The weapons in question in the incident were shotguns.
I've seen a fair amount of shotgun shells that are the same colour for a 12-gauge (usually a manufacturer uses different colours to separate 12-gauge from 16 from 20, so that you don't put the wrong caliber into the wrong gun, but only sometimes to distinguish between buckshot (#7 perhaps) and solid slugs). You'd have to go read the small print on a shell to see which shot it is, and most of the cops won't know the difference between SSG and #7 shot, or #1 shot, or notice if it mentions crowd-control or not.

The shotguns are often already loaded with shells in the magazine tube, but not one in the chamber (for safety reasons). Then the cop will have no idea what it's been loaded with. SAPS very rarely uses lethal shells in their shotguns.

Make of it what you will, but I do suspect that a stray SSG cartridge found its way into the wrong magazine tube unwittingly and by accident.

 

[Mila]

How is it the police had access to discontinued shotgun rounds in the first place?

+10

Old stock, it is not like our police use their firearms that much. Probably same rounds had been sitting in the same shotguns in the armoury for years.

No NoNoNo. Just thinking that hurts my brain!! How stupid can anybody be. This just can not be true.