[Sloth]

"It''ll shoot through brick, car doors. Say your family is in the house eating and there''s some gang violence. When they shoot these [the bullets] can come into your house and shoot your kids."

As opposed to pistol rounds, which bounce harmlessly off of car doors, drywall, etc.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Actually, one of the arguments made for the Police Special, was the limited penetrating power of the 0.38, the idea being that it limits dangers to bystanders. (Shotguns have the same virtue.)

I went to high school with the NYPD Police commissioner's daughter, so I took note of and remember his public pronouncements, including one,(circa 1970) in favor of the 0.38.

One big advantage of shotguns and semiautomatic rifles is intimidation. These kids understand this perfectly well.

Speaking of intimidation, my cousin retired after 20 years on the NYPD and never drew his weapon once. He's far from physically intimidating at 5’ 9” , 165#, he just knew how to deal with people. He ended his career as a lieutenant detective on the Manhattan District Attorney's homicide squad, so he was far from being a desk jockey.