Smith & Wesson M&P with pink combination trigger lock (coutesy tactical gear.com)

A jihadi with a machete attacked two policewomen at the checkpoint outside of Belgian police headquarters in the city of Charleroi. One woman was seriously injured, another suffered minor wounds, and the third shot the machete wielding attacker before he could inflict more damage. One bystander reported five or six shots, followed by a pause, then three more. From the articles that I have read, it appears she was armed with a pistol. From the BBC.com:

A man shot by police after he attacked two officers with a machete in the Belgian city of Charleroi has died.

The women officers’ injuries are not life-threatening.

The assailant is said to have shouted “Allahu Akbar” (“God is greatest” in Arabic) during the assault outside the city’s main police station.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel told broadcaster RTL by phone: “Initial indications very clearly point towards terrorism.”

Nearly all police in Belgium were centralized under one command in 2001. There are about 12,500 officers. They’re armed with the Browning High-Power, presumably made by FN.
In 2011, Smith & Wesson won the contract for a new handgun for the force, selling the police the S&W M&P9. The transition to the S&W was expected to take 10 years.  We are half way through that cycle. From smith-wesson.com, 2011:

SPRINGFIELD, Mass., Nov. 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation (NASDAQ: SWHC), parent company of Smith & Wesson Corp., the legendary 159-year old company in the global business of safety, security, protection, and sport, announced today that it has recently received a contract from the Belgium Federal Police calling for 20,000 Smith & Wesson® Military & Police (M&P) 9mm polymer pistols over a ten-year period. The police agency, a force with 12,500 officers, has received an initial shipment of 2,500 pistols as part of the full department conversion to Smith & Wesson duty firearms.

After an open evaluation process that included numerous competitors, the Smith & Wesson M&P9 was selected for its performance and for the support services provided by the Company. A thorough test and evaluation process by the Belgium Federal Police indicated that the firearm’s reliability, interchangeable grips sizes and low perceived recoil were among the key drivers in the decision . . .

Enhanced features included luminescent sights, a manual thumb safety with on/off red dot indicator, and a raised loaded chamber indicator on top of the slide that could be felt by hand. The M&P9 pistols retained the original design features and were supplied with two 17-round magazines along with cleaning materials.

I don’t know if the jihadi was shot with a S&W M&P9 or one of the older High-Powers. I have not been able to ID any of the pistols carried by police women in pictures associated with the shooting, but there are several officers that are carrying UZI sub-machineguns. The sub-guns seem to be issued as a special tool.  Perhaps a knowledgeable reader can inform us as to how often the UZI is seen being carried by the Belgium Federal Police.

The Belgium police also have Steyer AUG rifles in their inventory. This is another example for rampage shooters (or other attackers) to choose “gun free” zones.

©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
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39 COMMENTS

        • Yep, I would love for the next jihadi to be popped by a cross dressing gay man. The more gays and women that kill these terrorists the more it evens the scales in my book.

        • The Muslim attempted murder still thinks he’s going to heaven where dozens of virgins await his arrival. In his mind, he’s a martyr in a holy war.

          These people don’t fear death, as long as they die the right way. We need to figure out a way to kill them that exploits their religious beliefs and will strike fear in their brethren.

        • Make it public knowledge the guns are lubed with pig semen and the bullets coated with pig fat.

        • Tom in Oregon: Sorry man, I’m not jerking off anything to lube my firearms….. not that there’s anything wrong with that….

        • I’m pretty sure I’ve read something in interviews with female Kurdish fighters and how ISIS believes that if their men are killed by them, the men will go to hell instead of heaven.

        • It would not be necessary to actually use pork products on bullets, only to ensure that religious Muslim ideologues BELIEVED that you do.

          That said, it would not be difficult to fill the hollow in your hollow points with bacon fat. Rifle rounds, not so much.

        • It doesn’t count if the pig-flesh is forced upon you. In times of famine, Muslims can even eat pork if it’s the only thing around. The story about Blackjack Pershing quelling the Moros with pig blood-coated bullets never happened.

          Also, I’m surprised the Belgian cops don’t carry FNS-9s and P90s, or short-barrelled (semi-auto) FNCs or SCAR-Ls.

    • The Prophet said the world is divided into the Dar Al-Islam and the Dar Al-Harb. The House of Islam and the House of War. There can be no permanent peace with infidels, only truces lasting up to ten years.

      I truly hope a peaceful American Muslim reads this and explains why I got it wrong–I really do hope I got it wrong.

      • The Koran also states that a devout Muslim cannot ever be friends with an infidel and that lying to an infidel, especially to promote Islam, is perfectly acceptable.

        The next time you hear a Muslim state that Islam is the “Religion of peace”, remember that.

        Also remember that the correct translation of the Arabic word for peace, in this context, refers to the peace that comes when you enemies are in total submission to your will and unable or unwilling to fight any longer.

        • I know a Muslim girl who’s about to marry a Chinese guy who I’m 99% certain is not a Muslim.

  3. Is it better if she used a Smith than an HP? or worse?

    Now if she had used an UZI……well then…..

      • Ahhh, got it. Shame on me for being so callous as not not associate the onset of Tourette’s syndrome with his uncontrollable cries of “Allahu Akbar”.

        • It’s a well-known symptom of Tourette’s that the person will randomly shout out epithets and obscenities.

  6. Mostly I have seen hi-power handguns on the police in Belgium. I have also seen the Army augmentation for security. On the Army, I have seen 5.56 FN rifles and 5.7 mm handguns.

  7. I live next door to Belgium. Most officers I see carry the High Power; I’ve only seen a handful of M&P9’s.

    • AIM surplus online usually has Israeli ones of various vintages.

      I bought one for about $400, then spent about $350 on parts and labor to make it into a very nice gun. Far more customized to my tastes than a new $1000+ Hi-Power.

  9. Do ya’ get denied paradise when you’re killed by a chick? Or do you get 72 virgin goats? 🙂

  10. I’m glad the evildoer was stopped, and that the officers prevailed.

    Additional comment – The title of this article isn’t really true.

    3>1

    3 officers with firearms defeated one terrorist with a machete.

    3 terrorists with machetes would easily defeat 1 with a pistol (assuming close range and surprise – which was apparently the case here).

    I think this guy would have even prevailed over 1 or 2 pistol armed officers. It is the 3rd one that stopped him.

    Besides, machetes are hacking tools, not stabbing tools. It is very good for the officers that the man was only armed with a machete, not a serious dagger like the Argentinian Falcón.

    • That was what I was thinking… much like the hatchet-wielding attacker in NYC, the suspect wins against one cop with a pistol. The time it takes to draw from a lvl 3 retention holster while getting hacked at is just not conducive to good defense in very close quarters.

      Of course one could argue that some situational awareness can prevent a dude with a machete from getting to very close quarters without noticing him.

      • They were at a checkpoint. It would have been really easy for him to conceal a weapon til he was on them.

  13. So all the cops in Belgium equal 1/3 of the NYPD.

    NY population is around 8.4 million – and of course in addition to the NYPD we PANYNJ cops, FBI, State Troopers and Sheriffs.

    Population of Belgium is around 11 million.

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