Aug. 9—The City Council is poised to consider a request from one of its members that Keene ask state legislators to ban bullets designed to penetrate bulletproof armor.
Ward 5 Councilor Philip Jones proposes the full council authorize city staff to draft a resolution in support of a "Protect Our Police Bill."
Per standard council procedure, his request has been referred to a committee for discussion.
If approved, Keene's resolution would be sent to all state elected officials, asking for legislation that would outlaw owning, storing, selling, distributing or manufacturing any armor-piercing bullet in New Hampshire.
"Our local law enforcement should be assured that they are protected by wearing flak jackets and body armor," Jones wrote in a July 19 letter to the council and Mayor George Hansel. "They should also know that protective partitions, shields, and armored vehicles will actually serve the designed purpose they are intended for."
Per the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), armor-piercing ammunition refers to a full-jacketed projectile larger than .22 caliber, designed and intended for use in a handgun, and whose jacket has a weight of more than 25 percent of the projectile's total weight. These bullets are constructed from materials such as tungsten alloys, steel, iron, brass or bronze.
According to the Los Angles Times, the federal Law Enforcement Officers Protection Act of 1985 banned the manufacture and sale of armor-piercing ammunition, dubbed "cop-killer" bullets, but allowed exemptions for ammunition intended for sport. Some of these exemptions, granted by the ATF, include cartridges that can be fired from AR-15 rifles.
Jones told The Sentinel he had been looking through New Hampshire statutes when he came across a section in RSA:159 stating that a person is guilty of a class B felony if they use or attempt to use any Teflon-coated or armor-piercing bullet or cartridge in the course of committing a misdemeanor or felony.
"[The statute] said it's only unlawful if used while committing a crime," he said. "That's not right; it shouldn't be used at all for any public use. I think it's our job to protect our police."
A Keene police supervisor was not immediately available Friday or Monday to comment on Jones' request, and Marlborough Police Chief Zachary Byam declined to comment in an email Friday.
But Swanzey Police Chief Joseph Gonsalves said he would be in favor of the legislation Jones is suggesting.
"I would certainly support banning the sale of anything like that," he said.
Patrick Sullivan, executive director of the N.H. Association of Chiefs of Police, said Monday it would be premature to comment on how this legislation could affect law enforcement.
"Our association supports anything that would further the safety of our officers, but without seeing the [resolution] or bill itself I would hesitate on commenting fully on how it would impact us," said Sullivan, who formerly served as Goffstown's police chief until 2014.
Jones said his request is slated to go before the City Council's Municipal Services, Facilities and Infrastructure Committee at its next meeting on Aug. 24. If the committee recommends it, he said, city staff would draft a proposal for consideration by the full council at a later date.
Hunter Oberst can be reached at 355-8585, or hoberst@keenesentinel.com.
Republicans, including Greene, have repeatedly accused the Justice Department of going after Trump for political reasons.
The FBI found "info re: President of France" during the Mar-a-Lago raid. In a tweet, Jennifer Palmieri implied it could be used as "kompromat."
Trump baselessly said Obama "kept 33 million pages of documents, much of them classified," suggesting that "lots" of them "pertained to nuclear."
"Alarm has grown when you talk to advisers of the former president," Washington Post reporter Josh Dawsey tells MSNBC.
Republicans in Congress and the conservative media are plum out of talking points following the revelation that the FBI may have been searching for material pertaining to national security
"Nuclear weapons issue is a Hoax, just like Russia, Russia, Russia was a Hoax," the former president raged on Truth Social
Fox News' Steve Doocy said to House GOP Chair Stefanik that reports the FBI were seeking to retrieve classified nuclear documents from Mar-a-Lago is: "kind of a big deal!". President Trump overnight said that he encouraged the judge who authorized the search to release both the warrant and the list of items sought in the search.
Cerabino column: A whimsical look at how Donald Trump may monetize the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago
YEVHEN KIZILOV - THURSDAY, 11 AUGUST 2022, 21:37 Dmitry Medvedev, the former President of Russia and current Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation visited the occupied part of Luhansk Oblast where he held a security meeting on behalf of Vladimir Putin.
Fox News/ScreenshotAs it becomes increasingly clear that Donald Trump may have violated the Espionage Act by storing “top secret” government documents at his private residence, the former president has turned to a familiar excuse: Obama did it too.“President Barack Hussein Obama kept 33 million pages of documents, much of them classified. How many of them pertained to nuclear? Word is, lots!” Trump posted on his social media platform Friday.But shortly after that, Fox News’ chief political ancho
"Garland is playing chess. Donald can only play checkers," Donald Trump's niece said.
The Trump family was “actually able to see the whole thing,” attorney Christina Bobb said of the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago.
While in office, Donald Trump would ask officials if he could keep documents, his former Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney told CNN's Erin Burnett
The conservative attorney said Trump viewed sensitive documents as his property "because he is the world’s ultimate narcissist."
The list refers to one set of documents as “Various classified/TS/CSI documents,” meaning top secret/sensitive compartmentalized information. It states that FBI agents acquired four sets of top-secret documents, three sets of secret documents and three sets of confidential documents.
A search warrant viewed by POLITICO reveals that the FBI is investigating Donald Trump for potential violations of the Espionage Act and obstruction of justice laws.
Roger Stone was kept under house arrest and was about to report to prison when Trump commuted his sentence in 2020.
"Just so we are clear, this sure looks like an admission of guilt," an elections expert noted.
"If you know where the safe is and you know the documents are in 10 boxes in the basement, you're pretty close to the president," said Mulvaney.
Bruce Reinhart, the magistrate judge who approved the FBI's search warrant, was appointed by district court judges, not by Trump, in 2018.