My 2019 novel, Faction, was recognized by many readers as having weapons which seemed at first glance exotic, but were, in fact, rather straightforward, off-the-shelf weapons with slight modifications to make them more useful in urban operations. Let’s examine them in this series, one by one.
The criteria for an assassination weapon is different than weapons used in law enforcement, as conventional military sidearms, or civilian self-defense, but there will always be overlap. The criteria for this weapon was conceived of by Josef Shea, a veteran scout, espionage operative and spymaster, as a practical urban assassination weapon, as well as his ultimate goal for a “Modern Liberator,” which his grandson Doug Shea will realize in an upcoming short story.
The weapon must use 9x19mm ammunition, the world standard “full caliber” handgun cartridge, including subsonic loadings, with reliability and a magazine capacity appropriate for a “fighting” handgun, although, of course, we want to avoid fights. It must be capable of accepting and reliably operating with suppressors of varying sizes, weights and sophistication, and must have the ability to fire with the slide locked, which will both reduce the noise of the shot to a minimum when employed with an appropriately designed suppressor as well as retain brass. The purpose of the suppressor is less to protect the hearing of the shooter than to reduce the awareness of others to the shot, absolutely critical given the use case. The gun must be easily accessible with plenty of spare parts on the open market. Faction takes place in the early 1990s, so the weapon would have to have been readily available by the late 80s to ensure time for development.
