Socialist Action /March 1999
NYPD Orders Dumdum Bullets
Police Commissioner Howard Safir's first response to the Diallo killing
was to order more careful training of SCU cops.
Then on Feb. 13, he joined Mayor Giuliani at a press conference to announce
plans to make cops' guns even more gruesome by issuing hollow-point "dumdum"
bullets to the NYPD in the coming months.
Dumdum bullets are constructed to expand upon impact with the human body.
They do not pass through the victim's body and, therefore, will not hit
bystanders; that was Safir's and Giuliani's rationalization for introducing
them. However, as these bullets expand, they tear body tissue and internal
organs.
Dumdum bullets were banned by the first International Peace Conference
in The Hague in 1899, an indication that even 100 years ago, the dumdum
was considered barbaric. -M.V.D.
Socialist Action /March 1999 |