In case you were wondering why U.S. Customs and Border Protection didn’t cause more of a fuss when Mexicans used a gun “enabled” by the ATF to shoot and kill Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, we now have an answer: they have their own scandal to cover-up. “Border Patrol agents shot beanbags at a group of suspected bandits before the men returned fire during a confrontation in a remote canyon, killing agent Brian Terry with a single gunshot, records show,”azstarnet.comreports . . .
The documents say the group of illegal border entrants refused commands to drop their weapons after agents confronted them at about 11:15 p.m. Two agents fired beanbags at the migrants, who responded with gunfire. Two agents returned fire, one with a long gun and one with a pistol, but Terry was mortally wounded in the gunfight. Border Patrol officials declined to answer questions about protocol for use of force, citing the ongoing investigation.
Beanbag rounds? FYI via wikipedia.org:
The bean bag round consists of a small fabric “pillow” filled with #9 lead shot weighing about an ounce and a half. It is fired from a normal 12 gauge shotgun. When fired, the bag is expelled at around 70–90 metres/second (230–300 feet/second); it spreads out in flight and distributes its impact over about 6 cm² of the target. It is designed to deliver a blow that will cause minimum long-term trauma and no penetration but will result in a muscle spasm or other reaction to briefly render a violent suspect immobile. The shotgun round is inaccurate over about 6 metres and has a maximum range of around 20 metres. Changes to the bean bag round since its inception in the early 1970s have included a velocity reduction from 120 to 90 metres/second (400 to 300 feet/second) as well as a shift from the square shape to a more rounded sock shaped projectile.
Agent Terry’s brother makes the obvious connection: “Your government is telling you to use beanbags, but you are selling guns back to the Mexicans,” Kent Terry said. “There’s a lot of questions that they haven’t answered.”
NOTE: TTAG will host a live chat with Gunwalker journalist David Codrea at 8pm EST.
If they were using bean bags because the agency is ordering them not to use lethal force when it is obviously necessary, then yes, it is a scandal. If they used bean bags because they were unwilling to initiate the use of lethal force against someone who has not yet tried to hurt them, then I don’t see what the problem is. Obviously, it’s sad that Mr. Terry died, but if reality more closely matches the second scenario, then the blame lies with the man who killed Mr. Terry, not the Border Patrol.
I’m sure that they were following orders to use less-than-lethal force.
I guess only those agents know if their actions were appropriate at the time. You were right to call me out on my tasteless comment earlier Vig (some jokes can turn out to be just plain stupid) and I’m glad RF deleted it.
Everybody makes mistakes. It’s just important to remember that in a public forum like this, we’re all ambassadors for the movement, whether or not we intend to be.
There’s another CBS News Gunwalker segment today. Just heard an audio version on the radio. Sounded pretty damning. Finally.
How and why did CBS jump on the bandwagon? I’m going to ask David Codrea about this tonight.
Wow, the immigrants had weapons visible yet they used a less than lethal round against them? I hope they weren’t ordered via protocol to do so-that seems like suicide to me.
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