“Grand Rapids police expect to move to a 9mm handgun next year and trade in the department’s .40 caliber guns,” mlive.com. “Police say the decision was made, in part, because many of the existing guns were approaching a service milestone, typically involving replacement of springs and possibly barrels. Grand Rapids police officers now use a SIG Sauer P229 DAK that takes .40 caliber bullets.” Yes, but that’s not the real reason they opted for nines over fo-tays: “The 9mm weapons are expected to have less recoil than the current handguns.” And there you have it. Hey! Let’s crunch some numbers . . .
The city actually is expected to make money off the deal, with an expected trade-in value of $167,549, exactly $10,000 more than the purchase cost of $157,549.
The city, however, will have to spend $65,394 on various duty belts, holsters and magazine pouches for the new weapons.
So when the city said that they were going to make money on the deal, what they meant was they’re going to lose money on the deal. Still, anything that increases police marksmanship is a good thing – as long as it doesn’t decrease lethality. Oh dear. I just stepped in it didn’t I?