A few years ago, I ran across this image .  It is a display  of the weapons and gear the two bank robbers from the North Hollywood shoot out used.     It is interesting to think back on how things changed   because of this.

I remember a lot of talk after it about how the CA cop’s 9mm and 38 spl   handguns and 12 ga shotguns, weren’t effective against the robber’s boy armor.    A fact that makes me wonder why, decades later  the 9mm has  become the  miracle baby of LEO once again.

Approximately 650 rounds were fired by police at the two robbers.  No doubt mostly from their service handguns.  Once officers armed with rifles showed up , the fire fight was over  one way or another.

That  estimated 650 rounds though.  That is something to think about.   While the robbers were heavily armored, their heads were not.      I have over the years wondered  about how none of the officers on scene  made a head shot.   Did they not have the skill? Or was it lack of confidence in their ability ? Maybe they assumed  they had some kind of armor on their heads? You can see they  made many center mass hits.   Of course having two guys hosing you down with .30cal  is not the best time to try to take a head shot.

But the fact is, you may some day very well need to take a head shot. Either because it is the only target you got or because it is the only thing vulnerable.

It is pretty clear the police officers on scene were rattled and demoralized by being vastly undergunned.

“ An officer was heard on the LAPD police frequency approximately 10-15 minutes into the shootout, warning other officers that they should “not stop [the getaway vehicle], they’ve got automatic weapons, there’s nothing we have that can stop them.”

You can listen to the audio from the fire fight here.

The firefight ended the only way it could.  Both of the dirt bags Tango Uniform.    One suck started his M92 and the other one taken down by leg shots and bleeding out before an EMT could get to him.   Too bad for him.   Now a days I am sure the state of CA would lock up the officers for not doing more to save the animal’s life.

After this shoot out we read about how things changed in the police departments across the country. This was one of the factors that led to the  police starting to look more and more and act more and more like the military.   And with that the more tax payer money spent on paying for it all.     Then we see the recent FL  school  attack were the police were close to useless. I see police who can barely qualify with their handguns.

Again, you have to be ready to take care of yourself in an event like this.    You have to  have the skill to make a fight ending shot.  Or   you need to be able to  realize that even with great skill. you may not do any good in an event like this.    If a customer was in that bank after the robbers went outside and started up the TET offensive would it had been a good idea to come out behind them and  try to take a shot, even a perfect shot, once the police were there and not knowing who was who?   Yes if you wanted to avoid ever having to worry about anything ever again.

There are a lot of things that can be learned from the North Hollywood  Shootout.  Not just for the police but for military and the rest of us lowly peons who simply  do not rely on the state for our safety.

You can read a mountain of info on this famous,  world changing event.    I am not going to try my hand at any kind of in depth reporting on the event but you can read more here at this link.

https://projects.dailynews.com/north-hollywood-shootout/