Guest writer David Hall is a retired U.S. Secret Service agent and former police officer who served 28 years with the agency, including assignments in the Chicago Field Office (Investigations), Presidential Protective Division, and CAT team.
As a local police officer and later during my 28 years with the United States Secret Service, I learned a few simple rules: train relentlessly, trust your equipment, and remember that every round fired carries consequences.
In my career, I carried what was considered the best ammunition available at the time. Like most officers and federal agents, we trusted traditional hollow points from major manufacturers because they represented the best technology we had.
But technology moves forward. We no longer patrol in Crown Victorias or rely on revolvers. Body armor, optics, medical gear, and firearms have all advanced dramatically. Ammunition has evolved as well—and it was overdue.
The biggest challenge in law enforcement and executive protection has always been the same: how do you stop the threat immediately without the unintended consequence of injuring innocent people nearby? That concern becomes even more important when you work in crowded environments.
In executive protection for the Secret Service, I spent years operating in hotels, ballrooms, convention centers, rope lines, airports, and crowded public venues. In policing, we regularly worked in apartment complexes, schools, office buildings, churches, and neighborhoods.
One round that over-penetrates or one misplaced round can create another tragedy. We are responsible for every round.
That is why I’ve taken a serious interest in modern ammunition technology, specifically high-velocity defensive rounds designed to deliver greater terminal performance while reducing unnecessary over-penetration risk.
One company that caught my attention is Liberty Ammunition out of Bradenton, Florida.
Why Liberty Is Different
Traditional duty ammunition from companies like Hornady, Federal HST, and Speer Gold Dot/G2 generally relies on heavier lead-based projectiles moving at slower velocities. Liberty took a different path.
Focusing on stopping power, Liberty developed lighter, high-velocity rounds that transfer substantially more energy on target while carrying less weight on the officer. The bullet is also designed to hit the brakes and stop in the threat, which reduces over-penetration and risk to others.
Their numbers are hard to ignore.
Liberty’s Pro Series +P 9mm fires a 55-grain projectile at 2,000 feet per second, producing 488 foot-pounds of stopping power. By comparison, Hornady Critical Duty +P 135 grain produces 306 foot-pounds.
Liberty delivers 59% more stopping power, and the Hornady is roughly 48% heavier to carry.
I’ll take more stopping power and lighter-to-carry ammunition every time.
Against other respected law enforcement loads, the difference is significant. Liberty is lighter to carry and hits harder.
Ounces matter. For those of us who carried duty belts or were kitted for counterattack for decades, that matters. Anybody who has worked patrol, protective assignments, or tactical operations understands the physical toll equipment takes on your body.
Firearm, extra magazines, radio, medical gear, handcuffs, armor—all add up. Saving weight makes me operationally better as well.
There is another practical advantage: target reacquisition. Lighter, faster rounds generate less felt recoil, helping shooters stay on target if follow-up shots are needed. My life depends on fractions of a second—I want every advantage I can get. That is something every firearms instructor appreciates.
But for me, the biggest issue remains what happens after impact.
Modern projectile engineering has created ammunition that can produce devastating terminal performance while limiting unnecessary penetration beyond the intended threat. In executive protection and urban policing, that matters.
A crowded ballroom. A school hallway. An apartment wall. A church sanctuary. Nobody in our profession wants rounds traveling where they were never intended to go.
That is why I believe ammunition innovation deserves serious attention.
Some people argue, “The old stuff worked.” Sure—it worked. Horses worked too. But when better tools become available, professionals adapt.
After carrying a firearm professionally for decades, my view is simple: if modern ammunition can stop a threat faster, reduce carry weight, improve target reacquisition, and lower unnecessary risk to innocent bystanders, then it deserves a serious look from every law enforcement professional.
Because at the end of the day, we all want the same thing: stop the threat, protect innocent people, and make it home.
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