laststandonzombieisland

Secret Service agents walk on both sides of President Theodore Roosevelt’s carriage during his inauguration on March 4, 1905– the first such use of the USSS for such a detail. Vice President under McKinley, Teddy moved into the White House after the former Union Army vet was shot during the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York by Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist. TR himself would later survive a 1912 assassination attempt in Milwaukee by the skin of his teeth– or more appropriately, the thickness of a speech.

Founded in 1865 to fight counterfeiters as part of the Treasury Department, the U.S. Secret Service today has something like 7,000 agents, uniformed division personnel and support staff. For the first 130~ years of their existence, they carried wheel guns, alternating between Colts and Smiths over the decades. In the 1990s, they went semi-auto, adopting first the Sig Sauer P228 in 9mm and then the P229R in spicy .357SIG.

Now, it seems they have elected to go Glock, piggybacking on CBP’s recent huge $85 million contract.

More in my column at Guns.com.