The Difficulties in Assessing Wounds Created by .410 Bore Ammunition and Weapons

When interpreting firearm injuries, the distinction between gunshot wounds and shotgun wounds is important, and separation of these categories is typically straightforward. However, .410 bore firearms can make the classification difficult. Shotguns and revolvers that can fire the same .410 bore ammunition are readily available. This study investigates the soot and gunpowder deposits and pellet patterning of these two types of weapons using cartridges specially designed for .410 bore revolvers and standard birdshot pellet ammunition. For both ammunition types, the revolver had more prompt pellet dispersion and positive detection of gunpowder at greater distances compared to the shotgun. Additionally, .410 bore slugs are of similar caliber to many common bullets. In comparing the .410 bore slugs to equivalent bullets, some morphologic differences may be imparted on the skin by the slugs, but the greatest insight into the weapon remained with the retained projectiles.     

Spymaster Richard Helms: an interview with the former US Director of Central Intelligence

In this previously unpublished interview with Richard Helms in 1990, the former US Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) offered his views on a wide range of intelligence issues. Contrary to conventional wisdom, he argued that members of Congress had maintained rigorous accountability over the secret agencies in the years before the major spy scandal of 1975, when the Central Intelligence Agency was found to have spied on American citizens. He emphasized, too, the vital importance of human (as opposed to technical) intelligence, and expressed cynicism about the effectiveness of large-scale covert actions. For Helms, the DCI's most important job was to bring the facts to the table at high policy meetings.     

Law as the articulation of the state in Western Germany: A German tradition seen from a British perspective

The main purpose of this paper is to consider why in the Federal Republic of Germany legal categories are still so important in expressing what is understood by ‘the State’. This discussion is not, however, pursued solely in terms of concepts and traditions derived from German legal and political experience. Nor is the matter looked at just within the German context. There is in addition an attempt to look at the problem of law and the state in the Federal Republic against the background both of English legal theories and of contemporary arguments in Britain about constitutional issues. Thus what is offered is also a modest exercise in comparative political analysis.     

The Church Committee Investigation of 1975 and the Evolution of Modern Intelligence Accountability

Since 1975, lawmakers have displayed four responses to the call for greater intelligence accountability on Capitol Hill. Some have taken the approach of ‘ostriches’, content to bury their heads in the sand and continue the earlier era of trust when members of Congress deferred to the decisions of the executive branch within the domains of intelligence. Others – indeed, a majority – have chosen to become unalloyed boosters for intelligence –‘ cheerleaders’ who view their job primarily as one of explaining the value of intelligence to the American people and supporting intelligence missions with robust funding and encouragement. Taking the opposite approach, another set of lawmakers – the ‘lemon-suckers’ – have consistently found fault with America's attempts to spy on adversaries or overthrow regimes that fail to accommodate US interests. Finally, some lawmakers have been ‘guardians’, striking a balance between serving as partners of the intelligence agencies on Capitol Hill and, through a persistent examination of budgets and operations, demanding competence and law-abiding behavior from these agencies. The guardian model fits best into the framework of democratic theory.     

The Global Demographics of the Pentecostal and Charismatic Renewal

The demographics of the Renewal are best understood by its constituent parts, namely, the three waves: Pentecostals, Charismatics, and neocharismatics. Each of these waves has different strengths in various countries around the world. Thus one finds that while Renewalists are numerous in China, Brazil and the USA, there are relatively few Pentecostals in China; Charismatics dominate in Brazil; and Independent Charismatics (neocharismatics) are most numerous in China and the USA.