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Using fear as a weapon
Gun used by robber an AB-10, expert says
Intelligencer Journal
Published: Jul 24, 2008
01:34 EST
Manheim
By P.J. REILLY, Staff
As a sales associate in the gun department at Kinsey's Outdoors, Ben Bode has seen a lot of firearms.
 
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When he saw the photographs published by Lancaster Newspapers on Tuesday and Wednesday of a gun that police say was discarded by a would-be robber in Manheim, he immediately recognized it.

"That's an AB-10," Bode said.

Police initially identified the weapon as a TEC-9.

"Both were made by a company called Intratec, but that one is an AB-10, not a TEC-9," Bode said.

The most visible difference between the two is the TEC-9 has a cylindrical shroud with multiple holes drilled in it covering the barrel, while the AB-10 has no barrel shroud.

The TEC-9 was made by the now-defunct Intratec prior to the Assault Weapons Ban of 1994, according to the Modern Firearms Web site. The gun was one of several banned from being manufactured after the law took effect.

"It's a gun you don't come across that often. It's a gun that you do find in the streets," said Manheim police Chief Barry Weidman, a lead investigator in Tuesday's shooting, which officials are calling a "justifiable homicide." The gun used in the shooting was a small pistol.

The AB-10 was Intratec's replacement for the TEC-9, but it lacked several of the TEC-9's assault-style features, such as the barrel shroud, a threaded barrel that could receive a silencer and the forward handgrip found on some TEC-9s. (The "AB" in the gun's name stands for "after ban.")

The ban, which expired in 2004, forbade selling guns with magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds; the AB-10 was sold with a 10-round magazine. It can, however, accept any of the higher-capacity magazines made for the TEC-9.

It was not illegal to own TEC-9 handguns or high-capacity magazines during the ban period.

Intratec went out of business in 2001, but Bode said Kinsey's still occasionally sells used AB-10 handguns.

"Mostly, they are preferred by guys who like to spend time on the range shooting the assault-style firearms," he said.

Despite their appeal to some shooting enthusiasts, Bode characterized the AB-10 as "unreliable" and "not very accurate."

Manheim Borough police said the gun recovered after Tuesday's attempted robbery was jammed. A round was lodged in the chamber, police said. That malfunction either occurred as it was being fired or as a round was racked from the clip into the chamber, investigators said.

Converting the AB-10 to a fully-automatic weapon is "extremely difficult," Bode said.

"I don't even know how you'd do it," he said. "You'd have to modify the internal parts, and that would take a person with a lot of experience."

E-mail: preilly@lnpnews.com

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When are reporters going to check the facts before publishing a story? (If the mis-dentification of the robber's weapon initially came from the police, that isn't an excuse. Very few police officers are gun experts, but I guess they could have read the text imprinted on the side of the gun which identifies it as an AB-10.) The resources are available to check the facts. Makes me wonder how many other "facts" in this story and most others are very wrong.
Stating that the weapon involved was a Tec-9 when it was really an AB-10 is like saying someone was run over by a tour bus when the vehicle was really a Volkswagen Beatle. I guess expecting accuracy from reporters is too much to ask.

ronhow
Given that the AB-10 was meant as a replacement for the TEC-9, only having modifications to get around the assault weapons ban, it's probably more like confusing a Toyota Camry with a Corolla.

Which side of the gun is the text on? Looking at the photos from the other day, it looks as if the police weren't yet touching any of the evidence. Maybe the text is on the right side (if there even is any) Given that it's a fairly rare weapon, I can't blame people for getting it wrong.
shanek
QUOTE
Using fear as a weapon

I don't get the headline?

littledutchboy
QUOTE(littledutchboy @ Jul 24 2008, 09:57 AM)
I don't get the headline?
Me either.
Maybe it's cause they're scary military-looking weapons? I'm no gun-smith, but I'd be alot more fearful of a shot gun full of bird shot at 20 feet than this thing. With a barrel that short, accuracy is well, I guess that's why it can hold 30 rounds. Five feet, yeah, I'd need a new pair of shorts.
solitary
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